Kremlin: Putin-Erdogan Summit On September 4 In Sochi

It’s now official: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet on Monday, September 4, in the Russian seaside city of Sochi on the Black Sea, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Negotiations will be held on Monday in Sochi, in the middle of the day,” Peskov said at a press conference.
While Russia primarily wants to discuss expanding economic and trade exchanges with Turkey, President Erdogan intends to focus on the issue of the Black Sea Ukrainian grain transit deal, which was annulled on July 17 after Russia’s refusal to renew the UN-backed deal. Moscow withdrew from the agreement, complaining about the failure to comply with part of its demands, which provided for the lifting of Western sanctions regarding the free export of Russian agro-food products and chemical fertilizers, as well as the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT telecommunications system of international banking. Turkey has become one of the main beneficiaries of Ukrainian grain exports, the volume of which in 2022-2023 amounted to more than 34 million tons of grain, vegetable oil, and some other food products.
Erdogan is the leader of the NATO country that boasts the most direct contacts with Putin. Turkey is working on a peace plan for Ukraine, and Erdogan intends to talk to the Russian president about it.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has stated that it is possible to create a sea corridor without Russia. On the sidelines of the informal Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmitry Kuleba said, “We want the Black Sea wheat initiative to be fully restored, we have agreed on how to extend the corridor by land, but we also believe that a maritime corridor for grain transportation without Russian participation is possible.”
Two cargo ships were spotted on September 1 leaving the port of Odessa in southern Ukraine: Filia Glory under the flag of Liberia and Ocean Courtesy under the flag of the Marshall Islands. According to the Marine Traffic website, the Filia Glory is bound for Varna (Bulgaria), and the destination of the second vessel is unknown. Since July, Ukrainian civilian cargo ships have been forced to use a new humanitarian corridor after the grain agreement was not extended.
Russia began to work on its own to supply free grain to six African countries. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, “practical work is already being organized to implement free deliveries of Russian grain to the six neediest countries in Africa, as President Putin announced during the last Russia-Africa summit.” In each of the affected countries, he added, up to 50,000 tons of Russian grain will be delivered free of charge.
In recent weeks, shipping in the Black Sea has become very dangerous. Every day, Ukraine sends semi-submarine drones loaded with explosives to attack Russian naval bases and the Crimean Bridge that connects Russian territory to the peninsula.