The Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations Director Pyotr Ilyichev stated on Tuesday that Moscow and Turkey will discuss exporting grain from Ukraine in Istanbul on Wednesday, July 13, with Kiev expected to join the talks.
"Ukrainian representatives are also expected to join, as well as UN [United Nations] members as observers," he told Interfax, adding that Moscow has repeatedly insisted it is ready "to assist in ensuring the navigation of foreign commercial ships for the export of Ukrainian grain." "The possibility of controlling and inspecting ships to exclude arms smuggling, as well as Kiev's refusal to provocations, remains understandable conditions for us," he stressed.
His statement came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the matter over the telephone, with the latter underscoring the necessity of establishing a "grain corridor" from Ukraine.