ANKARA, September 8. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agrees with the problem stated by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that grain from Ukraine is flowing not to African countries as was initially proposed.
"Mr. Putin is right that supplies via the grain corridor are flowing not to poor countries, but mainly to developed [states]. Turkey is in favor of grain shipments from Russia to start as well," Putin’s concern is that given the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, grain is being delivered to the countries that introduced these sanctions [against Moscow]. We will discuss this problem [with the Russian President] in Samarkand," Erdogan told a press conference in Zagreb on Thursday, which was aired by Turkey’s TRT TV channel.
A package of documents aimed at resolving the issue of food and fertilizer supplies to global markets was signed in Istanbul on July 22. One of the documents created a mechanism to export grain from Ukraine-controlled Black Sea ports. The deal inked between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN provides for the establishment of a four-party coordination center whose representatives will inspect grain ships in order to prevent arms smuggling and false flag operations.
Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that almost all grain delivered from Ukraine was sent to EU countries instead of being transported to the world’s poorest nations, where just two vessels out of 87 were sent.
Grain is being transported from Ukrainian ports, particularly for humanitarian purposes, on a commercial basis financed from the UN World Food Program by donor countries.