Erdogan discusses the situation in Ukraine and Syria with Putin

Today, July 11, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the Ukrainian crisis and the issue of shipping Ukrainian grain to the world market by the sea. This was reported by the office of the Turkish leader.

"President Erdoğan held a telephone conversation with Russian President Putin. The situation in Syria, in Ukraine from the point of view of Russian military operations, the issues of creating safe corridors for the export of grain through the Black Sea were discussed,"- the report said.

According to Erdogan, "it's time to act to implement the plan to create safe corridors for grain export," the publication said.

The President of Turkey once again stated that he is in favor of a "stable and fair" solution to the Ukrainian crisis at the negotiating table. According to him, Turkey, as before, is ready to make efforts to revive the negotiation process between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Cross-border aid to Syria

During the conversation with Putin, Erdogan focused on the importance of expanding the mechanism of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria.

"President Erdoğan emphasized the importance of expanding the cross-border humanitarian aid mechanism," the presidential office’s post on Twitter said.

It should be noted that on June 8, Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the issue of creating a so-called "grain corridor" during the talks held in Ankara. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that if Kyiv clears its ports of mines, Moscow will guarantee the unimpeded passage of ships carrying Ukrainian grain and export goods through Russian-controlled ports such as Berdyansk and Mariupol.

On June 21, talks were held in Moscow between the military delegations of Turkey and Russia on the issue of creating a safe corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Turkey called them positive and constructive and noted that it was decided to continue the consultations.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced after the NATO summit in Madrid that Ankara is ready to re-export agricultural products transported through the Black Sea. According to him, there are about 20 Turkish merchant ships in Ukrainian ports, which are ready to transport cargo.