Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his hope to host his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Turkey in August in statements he made after the Friday prayer in Istanbul. Erdoğan also spoke about Turkey's steps after the latest Black Sea grain agreement developments.
"We have not determined the date yet. Discussions are continuing; I hope Putin's visit to Turkey will take place in August," the Turkish president said.
Referring to the issue of the grain transit corridor, he said: "You know we agree with Russia on this issue. In other words, we will convert the grain from Russia via the Black Sea corridor into flour and transport it to the poor and underdeveloped African countries."
"Even now, as the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, we will continue to take these steps and support poor countries."
In a telephone conversation that Erdoğan and Putin had on Wednesday, the Turkish president called on his Russian counterpart to avoid "any escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine." He emphasised that the grain agreement is a "bridge to peace".
Russia last month quit the July 2022 deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey aimed at easing a global food crisis after Russia's invasion of Ukraine five months earlier. Ukraine and Russia are both leading grain exporters.
The United States would continue to do "whatever is necessary" to ensure Russia can freely export food if there was a revival of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
"In the event of return to the agreement, of course, we'll continue to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone can export their food and food products freely and safely to include Russia," Blinken told reporters at the United Nations.
"We want to see that food on world markets. We want everyone to benefit from the lower prices," he said after chairing a U.N. Security Council meeting on food insecurity caused by conflict.
During the Security Council meeting on Thursday, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy accused Western countries of an "arrogant unwillingness" to help fulfill the U.N. pact with Moscow.
He stressed that Russia held a larger share of the global wheat market than Ukraine and was a key fertilizer exporter.
"Western countries need to focus on ensuring that Russian grain and fertilizers can get to countries in need without hindrance," Polyanskiy said.
The European Union has warned developing countries that Russia is offering cheap grain "to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity," according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told African leaders last week that Russia was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa on both a commercial and aid basis to fulfill what he said was Moscow's critical role in global food security.
Polyanskiy described the EU warning as "perverted logic," adding: "Russia has never considered Africa, Asia or Latin America as a space for extracting profits."
