President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the only person who can convince Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.
"Ukraine is coordinating (efforts) with Erdoğan to bring (Russian President Vladimir) Putin back to the Black Sea grain deal, and Erdoğan is coordinating with (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy. This is a common interest. Erdoğan is the only leader who can get Putin back to the deal,” Kuleba said in an interview with the local Ukrinform news agency.
President Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin Wednesday agreed on a scheduled visit by the Russian president to Türkiye, as the Turkish leader said Ankara would continue to engage in diplomacy to reinstate the now collapsed Black Sea grain deal.
Türkiye has positioned itself as an intermediary in the conflict and Erdoğan was a key player in brokering the grain deal that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via its Black Sea ports. But Moscow withdrew from the accord last month and has since attacked Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure.
Moscow has repeatedly said that it was ready to return to the deal "immediately" once an accompanying agreement concerning Russia was implemented.
Erdoğan said last month he hoped Putin's planned visit could lead to the restoration of the Black Sea grain deal, and called on Western countries to consider Russia's demands.
On July 17, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, saying the Russian part of the agreement was not implemented. It sought the loosening of banking restrictions and the ability to ship its fertilizer before returning to the agreement.
The agreement, initially signed in July of last year in Istanbul by Türkiye, the U.N., Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports halted due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.
