ANKARA, June 8. /TASS/. The Russian side is ready for a UN-mediated meeting with Ukraine in Istanbul, but the meeting will rather be symbolic than actually resolve the grain issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday at a press conference following talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

"About additional meetings in Istanbul [on the issue of grain exports]: we are ready for such meetings. We appreciate the UN's interest in getting involved in some way, marking its presence, but, frankly, it would be nothing but symbolic," Lavrov said.

As the Russian minister stressed, all that is needed to solve this problem is for "the Ukrainians to let ships leave their ports by either demining or identifying safe corridors." "Nothing else is required," he summarized.