Putin-Erdogan talks in Sochi: Ukraine, grain deal and nuclear power plant

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Sochi ended.

Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks between the two presidents in Sochi were very constructive.

The first part of the meeting was held in a wide format with the participation of delegations. Then Putin and Erdogan continued to communicate together.

Below are the main theses from the statements and Putin and Erdogan released publicly.

Putin:

• Russia is open to grain deal negotiations.
• The trade turnover between Russia and Turkey increased by 86 percent last year. In the first half of this year, "the positive trend persists."
• Negotiations between the countries on the creation of the gas hub in Turkey develop to "make the energy situation in the region more stable."
• Next year, Russia will launch the first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkey.

"After the terrible earthquakes that Turkey had to deal with, we were among the first who tried to lend a shoulder to the Turkish people and help the victims. All this suggests that we have taken the Russian-Turkish relations to a high level. This relates to all areas of our interaction."

Erdogan:

• The whole world has its eyes on the grain deal. I believe that after our contacts, we will send the long-expected message to the world, especially to African countries.
• The gas hub in Turkey will "enrich" its relations with Russia.
• Russia sent two airplanes to Turkey to fight wildfires. It helped a lot. But the threat persists.

Turkish media said on the eve of Erdogan's visit to Russia that he wanted to offer his mediation in negotiations on Ukraine, discuss the resumption of the grain deal and gas supplies to Europe via Turkey.

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan also answered journalists' questions following the talks in Sochi.

Putin:

• The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not just a slowdown — this is a failure. At least that's how it looks today.
• Russia has never refused negotiations. Russia does not refuse from talks now either. The President of Turkey raised these questions during our meeting, and I can confirm this.
• As for the grain deal, we originally agreed on the fulfillment of a number of obligations in the interests of the Russian side. When the deal came to an end, and no obligations were fulfilled, we were asked to extend it with a promise to fulfill everything immediately. We extended the deal, but no one did anything yet again. Then we were asked to extend it for the third time, and our Western partners cheated us again. Now we say: we are ready to immediately return to the grain deal as soon as the promises are fulfilled.
• While Russia was ensuring security guarantees, the other side was using humanitarian corridors for terrorist attacks.
• Russia was forced to pull out from the deal, as the West was blocking its implementation in terms of the access of Russian agricultural producers to world markets.
• The termination of the transaction did not affect global food markets. Grain prices continue declining. We do not see anything surprising about it, because Ukraine's share in world grain exports remains on the level of five percent and it will decrease.
• The West deceived us about the humanitarian goals of the grain deal. More than 70 percent of the goods were delivered to wealthy countries, to EU countries.
• We will be ready to consider revisiting the grain deal. We will do it as soon as all agreements are fulfilled.
• Through the mediation of the President of Turkey, we prepared draft documents [on a truce] with the Ukrainian delegation, but Ukraine tossed them into a wastebasket. No one is getting back to it. We hear about new initiatives, but this is different from what we discussed before.
• We never refuse from mediation initiatives. We are aware of such proposals from China and African states, and we are also grateful to the President of Turkey for his efforts in this direction.

Erdogan:

• The grain deal has played a key role for the poorest countries.
• We will prepare a new package of consultations with the UN regarding the deal. I think we will be able to achieve a result, Turkey will make every effort.
• We assessed the development of events in Syria, Transcaucasia, Libya and Africa. We are developing our bilateral relations based on the principles of good neighbourliness and friendship.
• We can see advantages of Russian-Turkish relations. Our close contacts will continue contributing to the solution of global and regional problems.
• We also discussed the construction of a second nuclear power plant.