Sergey Vershinin

Intense diplomatic efforts are underway in Ankara as Türkiye seeks to renew a vital agreement between Ukraine and Russia, allowing Ukrainian grain to access global markets through the Turkish straits.

The accord allowing for Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea, crucial in easing a global food crisis sparked by the Russian invasion, has been the subject of grueling talks to get Moscow to agree to its renewal.

Russia agreed on March 13 to extend the Ukraine grain export deal, but only for a further 60 days, in a proposal criticised by Kiev.

Following talks with the United Nations in Geneva, Moscow said it would not oppose prolonging the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative aimed at easing the global food crisis, as had been feared.

"We warn that such a step could lead to further violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and would directly damage the spirit and word of the Minsk agreements," the joint statement of the six European states reads.

Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal met on Sept. 24 with senior diplomats from Russia and France and discussed agenda topics with a top U.N. official in New York at the 76th U.N. General Assembly. 

Önal met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Vershinin, and discussed developments in the political process in Libya and Syria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Russia and Turkey stressed the importance of resuming full-scale air traffic between the two countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on June 9. 

Russian and Turkish delegations held two-day consultations in Moscow on Feb. 17-18, aiming to ease the tense situation in the Syrian province of Idlib.

Delegations from Turkey and Russia will meet on Feb. 10 for a second time following a weekend session in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Turkish and Russian delegations have resumed meetings on Feb. 10 to resolve Syria's Idlib dispute, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, underlining that talks would continue at the leaders' level if today's negotiations fail to bring about a solution.

Turkish hosted a Russian delegation in the capital Ankara on Feb. 8 to discuss the escalating situation in Idlib, northwestern Syria.

According to diplomatic sources, the Turkish and Russia delegations held a three-hour meeting which stressed the need to ensure peace on the ground and discussed steps to boost political process.