Erdogan to travel to Russia for meeting with Putin on extending grain deal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit Russia to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Yeni Şafak newspaper reported on Aug. 22, citing sources in Turkey’s presidential administration.

Erdogan's upcoming trip to Russia could be "critically important" and a "most significant step" in resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the newspaper said.

Following Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement on July 17, Turkish presidential sources said that serious progress had been made in talks to restore the initiative.

Read also: Erdogan confirms Putin's August visit to Turkey

Previously, Erdogan had said his meeting with Putin had been delayed until September at the earliest.

On July 28, the Wall Street Journal reported that Putin was ignoring Erdogan's requests to negotiate an extension of the grain deal.

Read also: Poland wants EU help to build agro-ports to help ship Ukraine’s grain

Putin said it was impossible to hold a bilateral telephone conversation because the Turkish president had chosen an "inconvenient time."

For his part, Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to contribute to ending Russia's war against Ukraine.

Erdogan said on Aug. 9 that he intended to revive the agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea and that he previously discussed the issue with the Russian dictator during a telephone conversation.

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