Turkey stopped “grain corridor” after Erdogan’s talks with Putin

The “grain corridor” from Ukrainian ports, which continued to operate despite the position of Russia, will be closed from Wednesday, November 2.

The delegations of Turkey, Ukraine and the UN have agreed not to plan any movement of ships with food, the UN office at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) said.

This is a “temporary measure,” the SKC stressed, adding that they are in close contact with Turkey, which acted as the only guarantor of transportation security after the Russian demarche.

On Monday, about 12 ships left the Black Sea ports of Ukraine, despite the protests of Moscow, which announced it was withdrawing from the grain deal after the Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol. On Tuesday, UN and Turkish inspectors checked another 36 ships, handing over reports to the Russian and Ukrainian side.

But Turkey, whose fleet escorted grain carriers to the Bosphorus, clearing the fairway from mines, changed its position after Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The resumption of the “grain deal”, in which 8 million tons of Ukrainian food hit the world markets, can only be after an investigation into the attack on Sevastopol, Putin told Erdogan, according to the Kremlin press service.

“The Kyiv regime, with the support of Western curators, used the maritime humanitarian corridor created to transport Ukrainian grain in order to carry out strikes against the infrastructure and ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, which ensured the safe operation of the said route,” the Russian president said.

He also stressed that the second part of the package agreements – unblocking the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets – has not been implemented.

The day before, Russia hit two civilian port tugs that were involved in transporting a barge with grain, the Yug operational command reported.

Further transportation of grain is “risky, dangerous and not guaranteed,” warned press secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov. He stressed that Russia “talks about the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of navigation” in the grain corridor zone.