The UN and Turkey begin negotiations with Moscow to resume the agreement that it broke on Saturday after the attack on its fleet in Sevastopol
The international community has closed ranks with an appeal to Russia to immediately return to the agreement that until Saturday allowed the export of grain from Ukrainian ports. The breaking of the pact, as retaliation by Moscow after the attack suffered by her fleet at the Sebastopol base, prevented last day a ship loaded with grain from heading to Ethiopia. Aware of the serious food crisis that the Kremlin’s decision will unleash, especially in the most disadvantaged countries, the UN and Turkey began negotiations on Sunday to find a way out.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who was due to leave for Algeria to participate in the Arab League summit, has decided to postpone the trip to concentrate his efforts on unblocking the agreement with the Vladimir Putin regime. The spokesman for the head of the international organization, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement this Sunday that Guterres is “deeply concerned” about the situation and is maintaining “intense contacts” to guarantee the Russian return to the pact signed in July between kyiv and Moscow with the mediation of Turkey and the UN.
Dujarric further noted that the same commitment also seeks “the renewal and full implementation of the initiative to facilitate Ukraine’s food and fertilizer exports, as well as the removal of existing obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports.”
The Ankara authorities have also launched a diplomatic offensive, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar confirmed on Twitter. “Crises can be resolved with good will and dialogue,” he added. Also, a government source, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Bloomberg that talks with the parties involved are scheduled to continue this Monday. “There are reasons for optimism,” he slipped.
Meanwhile, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, affirmed this Sunday that he and Guterres had talked about coordinating actions to maintain the flow of exports from Ukraine and urged Russia to reverse its decision.
The Spanish Government took a position along the same lines as the head of European diplomacy. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, urged the Vladimir Putin regime to “reverse its decision” to abandon the agreement, which “is necessary to guarantee the food of thousands of people in the world.” The head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, described Moscow’s decision as “regrettable” and accused the country of “wanting to keep the food war front open” and “causing hunger and insecurity in the countries less developed.
Launches from Odessa
The Russian Defense Ministry published, for its part, an analysis of the remains of the drones that attacked the Crimean port of Sevastopol the day before, the results of which ratified Moscow’s initial conclusions: they were launched from territory controlled by kyiv, under the supervision British military and contained Canadian-made components.
The Russian government explained in its note that the drones departed from “the Odessa region” and also made “part of their journey along the grain export corridor.” In addition, they add that apparently the launch was made “from a civilian ship transporting agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.”
Topics
Josep Borrell Fontelles, Vladimir Putin, UN, Ankara, Ethiopia, Moscow, Russia, Sebastopol, Turkey, Ukraine, War in Ukraine
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