Turkey is currently in talks with UN and Western officials to revive the Black Sea grain initiative in its previous format, a diplomat in Turkey told TASS.
"Talks are being held with the United Nations and Western countries, given recent meetings involving UN officials in Moscow and Istanbul," the diplomat said, adding that no progress had so far been made on the issue.
He referred to last week’s discussions between Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar and Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Prior to that, UN officials visited Moscow to discuss the situation around the grain initiative and efforts toward supplying Russian grain and fertilizers to global markets with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.
The Black Sea grain deal ceased to function on July 17. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry said that, due to the termination of the grain deal, effective at midnight on July 20, Moscow would consider all vessels heading to Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea to be carriers of military cargos, while the flag countries of such vessels would be regarded as parties to the Ukrainian conflict on the side of Kiev. Moreover, the ministry announced that a number of sea regions in the northwestern and southeastern parts of international waters of the Black Sea were deemed temporarily hazardous for navigation.
ТАСС 16.10.2023, 06:46 MSK