ISTANBUL, August 23. /TASS/. The results of the upcoming talks of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Kiev and Moscow on the grain deal may serve as a basis for the resumption of the Black Sea grain corridor, a diplomatic source in Ankara told TASS.

The top Turkish diplomat will visit Kiev on August 25. He will then visit Moscow; however, the dates of his visit are not disclosed. The meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan may take place in Russia in September, the NTV channel reported on Tuesday, citing sources in the Turkish presidential administration.

"The talks of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Kiev and Moscow will create the basis for reaching an agreement on the resumption of the grain deal, which may be finalized at the Erdogan-Putin meeting. There are grounds for this, given the progress reached with Turkey’s mediation on the grain deal consultations with the UN and the West," the source said.

According to the diplomat, Ankara considers it necessary to resume the grain corridor in its former format, taking into account the demands of the Russian side to fulfill its part of the package deal concluded in Istanbul in July 2022. "It is impossible to do this without Russia's participation, it can be brought back to the deal if its conditions on agricultural exports and reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT are met," the source added.

The NTV channel quoted its sources in the Turkish presidential administration as saying that the sides have reached progress on the consultations on the grain deal resumption. According to the channel, Turkish President's Foreign Policy and Security Chief Advisor Akif Cagatay Kilic will visit Kiev ahead of the Turkish foreign minister.

About grain deal

The grain deal expired on July 17. In exiting from the deal, Moscow, which had agreed to extensions of the July 2022 Istanbul agreements creating the Black Sea corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain several times, cited the failure of its deal partners to fulfil the Russia-related provisions of the deal, which called for removing obstacles to Russian agricultural exports. Moscow also noted that, although the Istanbul agreements were intended to ensure food security for the neediest countries, the bulk of Ukraine’s grain actually went to wealthy Western countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow could consider resuming the grain deal if all of the Russia-related provisions are in fact implemented.