The grain corridor is expected to start functioning in the coming days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday as Moscow, Kiev, Ankara, and the UN signed the long-awaited grain agreement. However, the full-fledged transit of grain is expected to happen during the next couple of weeks, Russian media reported today.
According to the deal, demining of the ports in the Black Sea will not happen as the safety of vessels in the territorial waters of Ukraine will be the responsibility of Kiev, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu explained, adding that the inspection of the ships carrying Ukrainian goods will be conducted both at the entrance and the exit from the Black Sea. In this line, Moscow, Kiev, and Ankara intend to open a coordination center that will oversee the entire process from Istanbul.
The grain shipping will be conducted from the port of Odessa, port of Chornomorsk and Ukrainian youngest port - port of Yuzhny, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres explained.