Moscow (agencies)
Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will discuss a proposal from Moscow that provides an alternative to the Black Sea Grain Agreement when they meet today, according to news reports.
The ministry added in a statement that, under the proposal, Russia will send one million tons of grain to Turkey at a reduced price, to be processed in Turkey and sent to the countries most in need.
“We consider this project the ideal practical alternative to the Black Sea Agreement,” she said.
Russia withdrew last month from the agreement reached a year ago, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, that enabled Ukraine to export grain from its ports on the Black Sea.
Russia says it withdrew from the deal because too little grain is reaching poorer countries and continued obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers are caused by Western sanctions affecting payments, insurance and port access.
Fidan is scheduled to visit Moscow today to meet with Lavrov.
And the Kremlin said yesterday: “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also visit Russia soon.”
After withdrawing from the grain agreement, Moscow pledged to supply quantities of free grain to six African countries. In terms of security, the Ukrainian local authorities said yesterday that Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with an intense missile attack during the night, killing at least two people and injuring three others as a result of falling debris in Kiev.
The authorities added that the air defenses shot down more than 20 Russian missiles and drones during the night.
On the other hand, four Ilyushin-76 military transport planes were damaged in a drone attack in the Russian Pskov region, according to the Russian news agency Tass, quoting an official in the Russian emergency services.
And the regional governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, announced, via social media, that all flights from the airport were canceled yesterday.
Pskov, which includes a base for the elite paratroopers, is located on the borders with Estonia and Latvia, which are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “NATO”, and is located about 800 km north of Ukraine.
Emergency services said Moscow had briefly closed four international airports after a drone was shot down near the capital.
In the same context, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, yesterday, the destruction of 4 Ukrainian gunboats, which were loaded with landing groups, during an air strike launched by a plane belonging to the Black Sea Fleet.
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