Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia on Monday, the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate announced. Erdogan is going to Russia on an invitation by Putin.
The two leaders are likely to discuss Turkish-Russian relations; and the current global and regional issues. Besides this, it is also likely that Erdogan would try to persuade Putin to patch up the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which helped ease a food crisis in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Moscow put a hold on the deal on July 2023, about 17 months after Russia launched a "special military operation" in February 2022. The Black Sea Grain Initiative allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports.
Russia pulled out of the deal claiming that its conditions hadn't been met. Ahead of Erdogan travelling to Russia, Egypt's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrived in Moscow last week for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Fidan had said that reviving the grain was "critical" for food security.
Lavrov responded by saying Ankara had been given a list of actions the West would have to take for the grain deal to be patched up and for Ukrainian grain and fertilizer shipments to be resumed.
While Turkey and Russia have maintained good relations, Turkey supplying weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against Russian invasion has irritated Putin. Turkey has also backed Ukraine's ambitions to join NATO. Turkey, however, did not join the West in imposing sanctions on Moscow and became a crucial venue for Russia to access services and goods.
In July though, Erdogan allowed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to bring back five commanders that Russia sent to Turkey in a major prisoner swap, commanders who were meant to stay in Turkey. Turkey has maintained good relations with Russia and has positioned itself to facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine. When the UN proposed a fresh grain deal, Lavrov pushed it aside.
In the meantime, Ukrainian officials said Russia launched an overnight air attack on one of Ukraine's major grain exporting ports, Reuters reported. Governor of Odesa Oleg Kiper said a 3 1/2-hour drone assault on the Danube River port of Izmail, in Ukraine's Odesa region, hit warehouses and production buildings, and drone debris set several civilian infrastructure buildings on fire.