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Russian port blockade: Turkey is apparently negotiating an export corridor for grain from Ukraine

2022-05-26T10:42:31.250Z


Several million tons of grain cannot be exported from Ukraine because Russia is blocking ports. According to the Reuters news agency, Turkey is now trying to find a diplomatic solution.


Enlarge image

This grain warehouse in Cherkaska Losowa, Ukraine, was damaged by shelling

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Apparently, there is a new player in the talks about Russia's blocking of Ukrainian grain exports.

Ankara is currently negotiating with Moscow and Kyiv on the establishment of a corridor for grain exports through Turkish territory, the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, citing a senior Turkish official.

Millions of people around the world depend on grain exports from Ukraine.

But because Russia is blocking the Ukrainian Black Sea ports, more than 20 million tons of grain are currently unable to leave the country.

A food catastrophe is imminent, especially in poorer countries in Africa and Asia.

Almost a third of global wheat supplies come from Russia and Ukraine.

"Turkey is negotiating with both Russia and Ukraine to export grain from Ukraine," Reuters quoted the anonymous official as saying.

“There is a need for this grain to reach the target markets.

Negotiations are still ongoing,” the person added.

Turkey had already taken on the role of mediator in previous negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Several talks between senior diplomats from Kyiv and Moscow took place in Turkey.

Russia wants to tie exports to the lifting of sanctions

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Wednesday last week that Moscow was prepared to provide a corridor for food ships in exchange for the lifting of some Western sanctions: “If our partners want to find a solution, then the problems must also be solved associated with the lifting of those sanctions imposed on Russian exports," he said, according to the Interfax agency.

Rudenko blamed the current food crisis on the EU and the US "which prevent normal free trade, including in food, including wheat, fertilizer and other things."

British Foreign Secretary: Putin is blackmailing the world

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of blackmailing the world with the port blockade.

During a visit to Bosnia, she said it was appalling how Putin used hunger and lack of food as a weapon among the world's poorest people.

“We just can't let that happen.

Putin must lift the blockade of Ukrainian grain.” Truss rejected Rudenko's swap proposal: “What we cannot have is lifting the sanctions, an appeasement that will only make Putin stronger in the long term,” she said.

col/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-05-26

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