New UN proposals could revive Black Sea grain deal: Turkish FM

A new package of proposals prepared by the United Nations with Türkiye's contributions could revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by Türkiye and the UN, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said.

Speaking on Thursday at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Fidan said Türkiye's efforts to revive the Black Sea grain deal, in which Russia suspended its participation on July 17, will continue.

Fidan said the fresh UN proposals would be "the appropriate ground for the revival" of the July 2022 deal, which is "extremely important both for world's food security, and the stability and peace in the Black Sea."

Lavrov, however, said that he spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the new proposals and they did not include guarantees for Russia, but "only promises to try faster, try harder."

Moscow has repeatedly complained that the West has not met its obligations regarding Russia's own grain and fertilizer exports. It says restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance have been a barrier to its shipments.

"Therefore, I can only confirm that as soon as there are no promises, but guarantees with a concrete result, which can be implemented right tomorrow, the implementation of this package will resume in full measure right from tomorrow," he added.

Touching on the Ukraine conflict, Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's position ruling out a peace formula by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which consists of 10 conditions, with its final step being signing a peace accord.

'Intensive, trusting dialogue'

During the joint press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said Russia is ready to increase its gas supplies to Türkiye and implement agreements between the two countries on setting up a gas hub for sales to other countries.

"For our part, we reaffirmed Russia's commitment to all agreements on increasing natural gas exports, including through the implementation of the initiative of the heads of our states to create a single gas distribution hub in Türkiye," Lavrov said.

He added that Türkiye and Russia are developing projects in the energy sector, which he described as the "locomotive" in bilateral relations between the two countries, and that the construction of all four power units of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is proceeding "according to schedule."

Lavrov said he and Fidan also discussed a proposal by Moscow to deliver up to 1 million tons of Russian grain to Türkiye at a reduced price.

"This issue is also being discussed with the participation of our friends from Qatar, who are ready to participate in the financial aspects of this initiative," the Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov and Fidan both emphasised the dynamic development of bilateral relations between Türkiye and Russia, which included "an intensive, trusting political dialogue" between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.