Moscow’s blackmail on wheat: “Sanctions first”
The conditions that Kiev does not accept
The hopes of a “Turkish way” to the agreement on wheat lasted a few hours. After Ankara’s optimism, he clarified his thinking: he will allow the unblocking of grain exports from Ukrainian ports, but on his terms. Which are to see sanctions lifted from what Mevdevev calls “the hated Westerners”.
LAVROV – Flown to Ankara after the visit to Belgrade faded due to the closure of European airspace, Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov married, on paper, the mediation efforts of Turkey, promising that the demining of the waters off the Black Sea coasts would not it would be exploited by Moscow to attack the airports. “These – he said – are the guarantees of the president of Russia and we are ready to formalize them in one way or another”. But the first step, he warned, falls to Kiev with the demining of the ports. To favor a solution to the world food crisis, he explained, Russia is ready to negotiate with the UN mediation.
SANCTIONS – But Moscow’s real goal, in exchange for the green light to wheat, is the easing of sanctions. A request sponsored by Turkey, a NATO member who from the beginning decided not to apply punitive measures to “maintain a balanced position” and save political and commercial relations with Russia. “If we have to open the Ukrainian market, we think that removing the obstacles to Russian operations is international,” explained Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
KIEV – However, the response from Kiev came immediately. “The real cause of this crisis – reiterated Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba – is Russian aggression, not sanctions”. From the mission in Ankara a further filing of the piano came out, which has been under discussion for days. The “technical preparation” to create safe corridors across the Black Sea “will be completed as soon as possible”, assured Cavusoglu. In addition to demining, which will take several weeks after the political and military green light, the main issue remains that of the security guarantees demanded by Kiev. Ankara reaffirmed its commitment to personally protect trade routes, but Ukraine is also demanding the UN umbrella and above all the involvement of a naval device of allies, starting with Great Britain.
DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE DEAF – A meeting point has yet to be found, as explained by the ambassador of Kiev to Ankara, Vasyl Bodnar, according to which no concrete agreement has been reached between Ankara and Moscow. We talked with the Turkish minister “about the problems of transporting Ukrainian wheat, which Western colleagues are looking for as a catastrophe: in reality, only less than 1% of world production of wheat and other cereals is blocked”, Lavrov commented. who, faced with a Ukrainian journalist who explicitly asked him “what else did Moscow steal besides wheat”, provoked himself to deny any responsibility for the blockade of ports. The dialogue between the deaf also continues on the possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
URSULA – The ball is in the Kiev field, Lavrov reiterated. “We start from the assumption that first of all the negotiating teams must resume their work”, he said, accusing the Ukrainian president of “changing his mind every day” and thus extinguishing the optimism of the Turkish colleague about a possible resumption of talks for a ceasefire. The wall against the wall is also fueled by the accusations of theft of Ukrainian cereals, re-launched today by the President of the Parliament of Kiev, Ruslan Stefanchiuk, in front of the plenary of the European Parliament, where also the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen denounced that “the food has become part of the Kremlin’s arsenal of terror ”.
RUSSIAN HOUSING – From Ukrainian ports that have passed under Russian control, exports are on the other hand ready to resume. After the departure of the first freighters in the past from Mariupol, “at the end of this week” ships loaded with grain will set sail from the one in Berdyansk, which has reopened after the clearing of the waters. “In reality – said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the self-proclaimed local administration – there is a lot of grain here, all the elevators are full”. In short, the Russians do not deny the hoarding of Ukrainian wheat, considering it now theirs. As confirmed by the leader of the separatists of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, according to which the cereals from the region have already left for the Middle East by train “through Crimea”.
ankara, grain, russia, sanction, ukraine