ANKARA, July 10. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that he expects his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to visit Turkey in August.

"We expect him to visit next month. If such a visit is paid, we will one hundred percent discuss the topic [about the grain corridor and the Ukrainian conflict]. I don’t expect Putin to change his position [concerning Turkey’s mediatory efforts]," he said in an interview with the TRT television channel on Monday before leaving for Vilnius to attend a NATO summit.

"As for telephone diplomacy, these topics [the grain deal and the conflict in Ukraine] are discussed in detail," Erdogan added.

According to Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, there have been no new phone calls between the Russian and Turkish presidents. If necessary, such a call will be organized quite quickly, said. As for the grain deal, "nothing has changed so far," he added.

On July 22, 2022, a package of documents on the supply of food and fertilizers to the international market was signed in Istanbul. The agreements were originally concluded for a period of 120 days. They were extended for the same period last November. On March 18, 2023, Russia announced the extension of the deal for 60 days. The grain deal was extended for two more months on May 18. However, Russia warned that this period of time would be enough to see if the memorandum signed with the UN was being implemented.

Russia’s foreign ministry has repeatedly stressed that only the Black Sea Initiative is being implemented while nothing has been done under the Russia-UN memorandum. The memorandum guarantees the implementation of Russia’s demands concerning exports of its food and fertilizers, re-connecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT and some other matters.