Russia Is Open To Talks On Grain Deal, Putin Says

Russia is open to negotiations on a grain deal, the Russian President said during the meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Sochi.

"I know that questions on the grain deal are expected to be raised. We are open to negotiations on this matter," Putin said.

Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a proposal to resume the grain deal. It is supposed to "summarize previous UN ideas that have not worked". The UN has not received an official response from the Russian side to Guterres' letter, in which he proposed resuming the Black Sea initiative, the UN Secretary General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

In turn, Lavrov said that Russia would immediately resume the grain deal as soon as all the points of the Russia-UN memorandum were fulfilled, whereas Guterres' new proposals contained promises, but not guarantees of this. Lavrov also said that the UN Secretary General spoke about his new initiatives on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg at the end of August.

The grain deal has been suspended since 18 July; on Monday, the Russian Federation notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN of its objection to its extension. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously noted that the terms of the deal with Russia were not met, despite the efforts of the UN, because Western countries were not going to carry out their promises. Putin has repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of the Ukrainian grain to its states, and the main purpose of the deal - supplying grain to countries in need, including African countries - was never realized.

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Putin said that the presidents agreed on the meeting a "while back", as relations are developing well and positive trends on trade continue.

"We agreed on the meeting a long time ago, the pace of development of relations is maintained, the positive trend in trade turnover as well," he said.

The Russian president also expressed hopes for the imminent completion of discussion on a gas hub in Turkey to stabilize the situation in the country's energy sector, noting that "agreements have been reached between the main supplies and consumers on both sides."

"I hope that in the near future we will complete negotiations on the creation of a gas hub in Turkey to make the energy situation in the region more stable and balanced. And I think this will be beneficial," the leader emphasized.

As for the 'Akkuyu' nuclear power plant (NPP), the first one in Turkey, which was built with the participation of Russia, Putin revealed that everything is going according to plan and the launch of the first power unit will take place in 2024.

"The construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant continues and Turkey will truly become a member of the international club of nuclear states, once the first batch of Russian nuclear fuel is delivered next year. Everything is going according to plan, we will launch the first unit," he said.

The construction of Turkey's first Akkuyu NPP has become the largest joint Russian-Turkish project. It is planned that after commissioning all four power units with advanced Russian reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200MW, the station will generate about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year and cover up to 10 percent of Turkey's electricity needs.

This is the first project in the global nuclear industry implemented according to the "build-own-operate" model. The cost of the project is about $20 billion.

At the end of April this year, Moscow and Ankara issued the delivery of nuclear fuel to the first power unit of the station. After that, the Akkuyu NPP became a nuclear facility, and Turkey joined the club of countries with nuclear energy. Putin and Erdogan took part in that solemn ceremony via video link.

At present, the Akkuyu NPP, located in Turkish Mersin province, is the largest nuclear construction site in the world, Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, noted earlier.

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Furthermore, the Russian President said that issues concerning the conflict in Ukraine will be included in the agenda of the meeting with Erdogan.

"There is something to talk about in terms of ensuring security in the region. Of course, we will not ignore the issues related to the Ukrainian crisis," Putin said at the meeting.

Turkey is hoping to use the grain agreement as a basis for restarting peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Continuing the topic of security, the leader highlighted the efforts of the two states to resolve the situation in Syria. The Astana format platform should be consolidated, he added.

"Of course, we have done a lot for the situation in Syria, I know how sensitive this issue is for the Republic of Turkey... The most basic thing that was done within the framework of the Astana format, we must consolidate, as well as this platform itself, in my opinion. Of course, there are other countries in the region, I mean the Libyan track," the president noted.

Putin also stressed that Russia is among the first countries offering help to Turkey in times of need, including in fight against forest fires and dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes.

"Dear president, you mentioned the fight against fires. I want to say that after the terrible earthquake that the Turkish people faced, we were among the first who tried to help the Turkish people, to help ordinary people who suffered. The same goes for firefighting. All this suggests that we have brought Russian-Turkish relations to a very good and high level," Putin concluded.

Erdogan, in turn, emphasized that the negotiations on the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Turkey and Russia are important for the whole world, including the African countries.

"Of course, the most important thing is the grain issue. The world is also waiting for today's results [of negotiations]... I think that a step towards the underdeveloped African countries will be very important," the leader noted.

Speaking about the creation of the gas hub, Erdogan highlighted the value of the project for the country.

"Another significant element for us is the creation of a [gas] hub in East Thrace," Erdogan said.

He also told Putin that works at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant are going well, adding that the sides will also take a step towards the construction of the Sinop nuclear power plant.

"We maintain a high level of cooperation with Russia in the energy sector, especially in the field of natural gas. I believe that we will develop these relations further," the president underlined.

The leaders discussed switching to national currencies in bilateral cooperation between Ankara and Moscow, and the significance of the issue was emphasized by Erdogan.

"I believe that the fact that the heads of our central banks will meet here today is important from the point of view of a step towards the transition to national currencies in bilateral relations between us," the leader noted.

In addition, the Turkish president asked Putin to allocate additional planes to Ankara to fight forest fires in the country.

"During the fires this summer, you helped us with two planes you sent. If we can increase their number, it will be much more useful. Because in the summer we are always under this threat. On behalf of the new members of my new Cabinet, I would like to thank you very much once again and hope that the meeting we will hold will be favorable," the leader said.

Commenting on the economic cooperation between the two states, Erdogan revealed that the countries are moving towards the goal of achieving a trade turnover of $100 billion.

"We are going through a completely different period in relations between Turkey and Russia, we are very pleased that the volume of our foreign trade currently amounts to $62 billion, and we are moving towards our goal of $100 billion." the president stressed.