Turkey is attempting to persuade Russia and Ukraine to agree to a grain deal  to avert food crisis

• “Candidate status is the final psychological barrier that we must cross for EU sceptic countries,” he stated.
• As previously reported, on February 28, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine’s admission to the European Union.
• On March 10, EU leaders met in Versailles, France, to discuss ways to bolster the European military and reduce reliance on Russian gas, oil, and coal.
• EU leaders came together to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and Kyiv’s European ambitions were recognized.
Advertisement
• President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced during a visit to Kyiv on April 20 that the European Commission will announce the first conclusions on Ukraine’s candidate status by the end of June, after which the matter would be on the Council’s agenda.

Turkish efforts to ease a global food crisis by negotiating safe passage for grain stuck in Black Sea ports met resistance as Ukraine said Russia was imposing unreasonable conditions and the Kremlin said free shipment depended on an end to sanctions.

The war between Russia and Ukraine, the world’s third and fourth largest grain exporters respectively, has added to food price inflation and put global food supplies at risk.

In nearly 15 weeks of fighting, Russia has taken vast swaths of Ukraine’s shore, and its warships now command the Black and Azov Seas, preventing Ukraine’s farm exports and driving up food prices.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of using food supply as a weapon. Russia blames the incident on Ukrainian mines sunk at sea and international sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said on Wednesday in Ankara that talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were good and that restarting Ukrainian grain exports over a sea corridor was reasonable. As a requirement for safe transit, Ukraine must de-mine its ports, according to Lavrov.

Russian grain shipments could only be transferred to international markets if sanctions were relaxed, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “There have been no substantive discussions on this yet,” he said.

The UN is working on resuming grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, with Turkey perhaps providing naval escorts to assure safe passage. Last week, the United Nations classified talks with Russia on grain exports as fruitful.

For the latest International News Follow BOL News on Google News. Read more on Latest International news on oldsite.bolnews.com