Vladimir Putin Visits President Erdogan Next Week, Turkey-Russia Discusses New Black Sea Grain Export Mechanism

The seed-carrying ship from Ukraine via the Black Sea arrived in Turkey. (Source: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry)

JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss a new mechanism that will allow Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea with President Vladimir, as the Russian leader visits Turkey next week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

President Putin is expected to visit Turkey on February 12 to meet President Erdogan, a previous Turkish official said, on the Russian leader's first trip to NATO allies since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In an interview with private television A Haber Foreign Minister Fidan said there was an attempt to find a "new method" to transport Ukrainian seeds to the world market.

"The previous grain agreement went into a certain mechanism, now it looks like there is a possibility to run with a different mechanism, and now there is an attempt to realize this possibility," Foreign Minister Fidan said, adding President Erdogan would raise the issue in his meeting with President Putin in Turkey.

Foreign Minister Fidan added that several ships managed to transport Ukrainian wheat from the Black Sea, even without an agreement.

"We want to clarify (the situation) de factoically with the new mechanism," said Foreign Minister Fidan.

Ankara is known to have tried to persuade Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Moscow canceled in July 2023, a year after the initiative was implemented. The agreement was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, to provide a safe export route from the Ukrainian port.

Separately, Kyiv said talks were underway to revive the agreement, but Moscow said there was no prospect of re-implementing it.