Putin says at meeting with Erdogan that Russia is ready for talks on grain deal

A meeting between Turkish and Russian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin has begun in Sochi today, September 4. This was reported by Russian media.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin said he was ready to negotiate a grain deal: “I know that you intend to raise the issue of a grain deal. We are open to negotiations on this issue.”

Erdogan added that the results of the grain talks will be significant for the world and for African countries.

In addition, according to Putin, the talks will also discuss “issues related to the Ukrainian crisis.”

As a reminder, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that the Turkish president has the best chance of influencing Putin on the issue of renewing the grain deal.

Erdogan himself said that he intends to facilitate the resumption of the grain deal in an “expanded format.”

Recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, presented “a number of concrete proposals” to renew the agreement.

Tags: Turkey, Black Sea grain deal, Russia