Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again tried to mediate ahead of the meeting, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The fact that the phone calls with the Russian and Ukrainian heads of state took place on the same day and shortly before the Istanbul meeting fueled hopes that a solution could be found in the debate.
The UN, however, exercised restraint. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday of the Istanbul meeting: “We are really working hard, but there is still a lot to be done.” UN spokesman said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleg Nikolenko told R.
The biggest obstacle to an agreement was the question of how ships on the Black Sea route to Ukraine were to be controlled. For example, Russia wants to prevent weapons from being delivered to the country and reserves the right to search incoming ships. Kyiv rejects this and in turn wants to know how Ukraine’s security against Russian attacks can be guaranteed if Kyiv clears sea mines to protect its ports.
Getty Images/Ugurhan Betin According to the UN plan, a control center could be built in Istanbul
UN plan calls for control center on Bosphorus
According to Turkish information, a UN plan to resolve the crisis includes, among other things, the installation of a control center in the metropolis of Istanbul, which is on the Bosphorus Strait. The control center will monitor the passage of ships in and out of a “safe zone” outside Ukrainian waters. The strait, over which Turkey has sovereignty, is the only sea route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
R also reported, citing diplomats familiar with the plan, that grain ships would be guided in and out of port waters mined by Ukrainian ships. Russia must agree to a ceasefire during deliveries.
The international community has been demanding for weeks that Russia allow the export of Ukrainian grain. Ukraine complains that its Black Sea ports are blocked by the Russian Navy. Tensions have also been fueled by Ukraine’s allegations that Russia stole hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain. Russia denies stealing wheat and preventing wheat exports.
AP/Efrem Lukatsky Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s biggest wheat exporters
Erdogan called Putin and Zelenskyy
A conversation between the UN, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to deal with all these issues has been in the air for some time. Regarding the phone call between Erdogan and Putin, Turkey said on Monday: “President Erdogan noted that it was time for the United Nations to take action to implement the plan to create safe corridors through the Black Sea for grain exports.”
According to the Kremlin, the negotiations took place “on the eve of the next Russian-Turkish summit”. The Kremlin also said that Russia and Turkey “continued to exchange views on the situation in Ukraine, including in relation to coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and grain exports to world markets.”
Looking for safe corridors at sea
Safe corridors at sea were also a topic of discussion between Erdogan and Zelenskyy, according to Turkey. Turkey continues to work on the UN plan that aims to “put Ukrainian grains on the world market”, according to Turkey.
Conversations with the 🇹🇷 President @RTErdogan. Thank you for condolences for the new civilian victims of Russian aggression. We appreciate the 🇹🇷 support. Discussed the importance of unlocking 🇺🇦 ports and resuming grain exports. We must also prevent Russia from taking our grain from the TOT.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2022
Zelenskyy spoke on Twitter after the phone call. “We appreciate the Turkish support. We talked about the need to open Ukrainian ports and resume grain exports,” Zelenskyy said. Russia must also be prevented from claiming Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories.
In late June, diplomats in New York warned against being over-optimistic: so far there has been no agreement on exporting grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea. The distrust between Moscow and Kyiv is still very high and there are still a number of obstacles in the negotiations. Another open question is whether Russia is sincere about its involvement in the negotiations, said a Western diplomat.
Graphics: APA/ORF.at; Source: BayWa
UN warns of worst famine in decades
Russia and Ukraine are among the biggest wheat exporters and play an important role in world food security. The United Nations has warned of the worst famine in decades.
Specifically, it is about the export of millions of tons of grain from Ukraine, mainly to North Africa and Asia, much of which is in the port of Odessa. This is currently being felt in Somalia, for example, where the UN is warning of a major famine. Somalia receives 50% of its wheat imports from Ukraine, 35% from Russia. Because of the upcoming harvest, time is of the essence: the UN recently said that a deal must actually be in place by June, because otherwise storage capacities in Ukraine would not be enough.