Black Sea Grain Initiative should be resumed, but not at expense of blackmail, fulfillment of Russia’s whims – Kuleba
The Black Sea Grain Initiative should resume its functioning, but not at the expense of blackmail and fulfillment of Russia's whims, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, commenting on the meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
"If someone meets without Ukraine, it does not mean that they speak without Ukraine," Kuleba said during a conversation with reporters on Monday.
Kuleba also noted that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently visited Kyiv, and they had a “very substantive conversation.”
“Then he went to Moscow. We understand the logic of the discussion. Our position is very simple. The Black Sea Grain Initiative should be resumed. Secondly, it should be restored not by blackmail, by fulfilling the whims of the Russian Federation,” the Foreign Minister said.
The Minister stressed that Ukraine insists that it is necessary to develop an alternative corridor.
“There is a technical opportunity for this. We need to strengthen the additional security capability. We have already shown that it works. We see, by the way, how countries are showing interest in helping us to organize the functioning of this corridor on a stable basis,” Kuleba said.
He added that there were no legal political grounds for Russia's withdrawal from the agreement.
“If they make concessions now, they will come back, in a month they will come out again and put forward new demands. And third, in parallel, due to the fact that Russia cannot be trusted, it is necessary to develop alternative sea corridors to the Black Sea Grain Initiative. What Ukraine is doing successfully, and you know about the ships that have already left,” Kuleba said.
In addition, the Foreign Minister noted that there are trusting relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“I am convinced that as a result of Erdogan's conversation with Putin, contacts between President Erdogan and President Zelenskyy will follow. And they will talk in detail about what was discussed and what was agreed, if agreed, in Sochi,” the minister expressed confidence.
