On Friday, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that he and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had reached an agreement over the distribution of Russian grains to needy African countries as part of the Black Sea export arrangement.
During a conversation that I had with Vladimir Putin over the phone, he suggested that we deliver this grain to countries like Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan for free, and we agreed to do so, Erdogan stated in a speech that he gave to businesses in Istanbul.
The remark was made after Moscow resumed its involvement in the grain accord that was arranged by the United Nations and Turkey on Wednesday. This brought an end to four days of non-cooperation that nonetheless allowed shipments to continue from Ukrainian ports.
At the beginning of this week, Vladimir Putin said that even if Russia withdrew from the arrangement once again, it would still provide the total quantity of grain that was intended for the “poorest nations” from its own reserves for free.