Ukraine Placing Impossible Conditions For Export Of Grains
Turkey thinks that the UN plan on maritime exports of Ukrainian grain is viable and implementable, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said following the June 8 talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The Russian top diplomat said that, according to the Turkish side, Ukraine was ready to either demine its sea ports or ensure safe passage for vessels in order to export grain.
Soon after the meeting between the two diplomats, Ukrainian Ambassador to Ankara Vasily Bodnar told CNN Turk that Kiev would agree to renew the maritime grain exports only in exchange for security guarantees such as anti-ship armaments and the participation of the naval forces of third countries in the protection of its waters. He emphasized that there had been no agreements on the issue between Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.
The West, above all, the US, is hardly likely to openly yield to Russian demands to lift sanctions in exchange for grain export, according to Researcher at the Center for North American Studies at the Russian Institute of the World Economy and International Relations IMEMO Alexey Davydov. Mainly, regarding US domestic politics, this may hurt the Democrats’ chances in the November elections amid the evident anti-Russian consensus and solidarity with Ukraine among the US establishment. If any concessions do take place, they won’t be made public, the expert thinks.
The conditions for the grain exports expressed by the Ukrainian envoy are absolutely unacceptable for Russia, according to Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics Dmitry Suslov. Essentially, the diplomat’s statement means that Kiev is not really concerned about the food crisis and is using the grain export issue exclusively to receive Western anti-ship missiles or Western naval ships near Odessa in order to significantly weaken the Black Sea fleet. According to the expert, now Ukraine has practically expressed this absolutely openly.
