Putin, Erdoğan to meet in wake of Moscow’s withdrawal from Ukraine grain deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are set to meet for talks in Sochi, Russia, next week, amid efforts to bring Moscow back into an agreement allowing for the continued export of Ukrainian goods despite the war.

Putin and Erdoğan will meet in the Black Sea resort town on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ankara helped broker the initial grain deal, which allowed for the safe passage of ships carrying Ukrainian goods through the Black Sea, alongside the United Nations last July. 

The deal was key to efforts to keep food costs down amid the war because Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of food products like wheat, barley and sunflower oil.

However, Moscow declined to renew the deal this summer, after repeatedly complaining that it was one-sided in favor of Ukraine and had failed to sufficiently get Russian food and fertilizer exports out to the world.

“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said at the time.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov doubled down on Moscow’s demands following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in the Russian capital on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed.