ANKARA, March 25. /TASS/. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan touched upon the possibility of processing Russian grain into flour in Turkey for subsequent shipments to the countries in need at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, Erdogan said in Istanbul.
"Before coming here, I held talks with Mr. Putin. I listened to Mr. Putin’s assessment of our mediation in the situation in Ukraine, as well as to how they are following the election in Turkey. They want the following: Russia sends wheat free of charge, especially for least developed countries, while Turkey should turn it into flour and deliver it to poor African nations as soon as possible," he said, aired by the TRT channel.
Meanwhile, the Turkish presidential office reported that during the talks Erdogan stated that Turkey and Russia could take new steps based on the economic cooperation negotiated in Sochi. However, no details concerning these steps were given.
On January 5, Erdogan announced Ankara’s willingness to process grain from Russia at Turkish flour processing plants and to ship it to African poor nations.
Last Saturday, amid reports from the parties to the grain deal that it was allegedly extended for yet another 120 days, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that Russia had agreed to extend the grain deal only for 60 days. Earlier, following the talks in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin noted that time would be sufficient for an objective assessment of how the UN implements its assurances to ensure the unblocking of exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the world market.
Agreements on food exports from Ukraine were concluded in Istanbul on July 22 of last year for a period of 120 days. In November, they were extended for the same period. One of the agreements regulates the export of grain from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. A memorandum signed between Russia and the UN presupposes an obligation on the part of the world organization to lift restrictions on the export of Russian fertilizers and farm produce to world markets. Moscow has pointed out that the second part of this agreement has to date not been implemented.