President Erdogan And Putin Open Opportunities For Recovery Of Black Sea Grain Deal, Ukraine Wants Alternative Paths

President Erdogan with President Putin in Sochi. (Source: Presidency of The Republic of Turkey)

JAKARTA - Ukraine's foreign minister wants an alternative route, although efforts to restore the Black Sea seed deal are underway, insisting Kyiv will not change its position regarding the deal.

The recovery of the Black Sea Grain Agreement is one of the things discussed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Sochi, Monday.

"The Black Sea grains initiative must be restored. This initiative should not be restored at the expense of extortion and fulfilling Russia's wishes. This is because there is no legal or political basis for Russia to withdraw from the agreement," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, cited from Ukrinform September 5.

"If we give them a concession now, they will come back and then withdraw again a month later to apply for new terms. That's just classical extortion."

He further said that Russia cannot be trusted so it is necessary to develop an alternative maritime export route for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to him, technically there is a possibility to make this happen, but it is necessary to strengthen additional security.

"We have shown that this route is successful. We have shown that there are countries that have expressed interest in helping us manage this route stably," Kuleba added.

In addition, Kuleba also said Ukraine would not soften its position in this deal, despite calls from President Erdogan, including the pressure of sanctions on Russia.

Earlier, speaking at a joint press conference with President Putin, Turkish leader Erdogan said Ukraine "of course should soften its approach to taking joint steps with Russia," as quoted by TASS.

It is known, the Black Sea Grain Agreement that allows safe export of grains through the Black Sea despite the war, has been in effect since the Russian invasion last year and has been extended several times but ended July 17, after Russia withdrew because it assessed that a number of conditions regarding Moscow's interests had not yet been realized.

After yesterday's meeting, President Putin wanted Erdogan to give a good signal, the deal could be restored, with the Russian leader saying Moscow is ready to return to the deal a few days after their related terms are met.