The four-way Istanbul meeting between military delegations of Russia, Turkey and Ukraine and UN representatives on export of Ukrainian grain is over, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced Wednesday, TASS reports.
The meeting took place at a military facility behind closed doors.
Establishment of the so-called grain corridor was discussed on June 8 in Ankara by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. On June 21, military delegations of Turkey and Russia discussed the grain export in Moscow. At that time, the hotline between the Defense Ministries of Turkey, Russian and Ukraine on grain export was announced.
Following the June 28-30 NATO summit in Madrid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated Ankara’s readiness to work on the export of agricultural products via the Black Sea. According to Erdogan, there are about 20 Turkish trade ships in Ukrainian ports ready to transport the grain.
On July 8, Sergey Lavrov said after the G20 Ministerial meeting that Russia is ready for a negotiations process with Ukraine and Turkey on grain export, adding that the military will play the key role in this process.
