Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concludes his working week in Turkey. At the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Russian minister will hold talks in Ankara on April 6-7 on a wide range of topics. In his contacts with the Turkish side, Lavrov will discuss in detail energy issues, the situation around Ukraine, the implementation of the grain deal, as well as the tasks of normalizing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the dialogue between Ankara and Damascus.
The Russian minister's current visit coincided with a turbulent period in the country's internal life. The country experienced a devastating earthquake in February that killed at least 50,000 people, and it is still struggling with the consequences of the disaster with the support of Russia and other countries. At the same time, Turkey is entering a tense pre-election period and is preparing hard for the presidential election scheduled for May 14.
However, despite the difficult domestic situation, Ankara remains committed to an active participation in the international agenda and at the highest level declares its readiness to quickly implement the gas hub project, as well as the desire to organize peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The ministers will probably take the opportunity to discuss the whole range of international issues and bilateral tasks, as well as the initiatives formulated by the Turkish side.
As announced the day before in the Russian foreign ministry, Lavrov and Cavusoglu will not ignore the "issues of comprehensive security of Russians in Turkey" before the next tourist season.
"Package" agreements on grain
One of the main topics of the current Russian-Turkish negotiations will be the "package" agreements on grain reached last July in Istanbul between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations. Lavrov and Cavusoglu touched on the most sensitive aspects of the so-called grain deal back in early March during face-to-face contacts on the margins of the Group of Twenty (G20) ministerial meeting in New Delhi. At that time the Russian side stressed that prolonging the "package" agreement on grain was "possible only if the interests of Russian producers of agricultural products and fertilizers are taken into account." At the same time, Lavrov later noted, the grain deal, which included "two inseparable components" - safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports and lifting restrictions on the export of Russian grain and Russian fertilizers, as stipulated in the Russia-UN memorandum, is implemented only in the first part, while "the second part is not implemented at all."
In view of this imbalance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin later told reporters that the Russian side decided to extend the grain deal after March 18 for only 60 days, rather than the expected 120 days. According to the deputy minister, this term is enough to objectively assess the implementation of the UN assurances to ensure the unblocking of Russian agricultural exports. The position of the Russian Federation was conveyed to the partners in the deal.
In view of Moscow's concerns, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that he proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to process Russian grain into flour and send it to the least developed countries. It is possible that this Turkish initiative, as well as other important aspects of the grain deal, will be discussed in detail and in detail during Lavrov's visit to Ankara.
Energy scope
Putin's proposal to create a hub on Turkish territory where the lost transit volume through the Nord Stream pipeline could be redirected seems to be no less urgent for the negotiations. The Turkish president said that despite the "some delay due to the earthquake" Ankara was now doing its best to implement the project as soon as possible. At the same time the Ministry of energy and natural resources of Turkey assured TASS that the gas hub project in the republic will be launched within a year and currently there is active work on settling legal issues. It is possible that during the current negotiations the parties will be able to bring more clarity to the launch date of the project or to update the information already available.
Furthermore, before Lavrov's visit to Ankara, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that the heads of the diplomatic departments would work out "a schedule of bilateral contacts at various levels." Earlier, Erdogan did not rule out the possibility of a full-time visit of the Russian leader to Turkey to participate in the nuclear fuel loading ceremony at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. The fuel loading ceremony at the first nuclear power plant being constructed in Turkey in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement with Russia in 2010 is scheduled for April 27. The Kremlin has pointed out that so far "no exact decisions have been made" but assured that "the Russian side will be adequately represented one way or another". Lavrov's visit will probably clarify some aspects of this topic as well.
Negotiation's topics
International and regional topics during the upcoming talks are also expected to be discussed at length. The Turkish leader has repeatedly stated that he seeks to organize peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the near future. The ministers are likely to touch upon this topic as well.
The heads of foreign ministries are also likely to discuss the current situation around Nagorno-Karabakh. Lavrov met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku at the end of February, and received Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Moscow on March 20. In Ankara, the sides will probably reconcile their positions on this issue and outline directions for further contacts during the second meeting in the "three plus three" format (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, as well as Russia, Iran and Turkey), which is being worked out by the Russian foreign ministry. The diplomatic mission said ahead of the visit that it would "thoroughly study" issues of deepening cooperation in Transcaucasia, including the resumption of relations between Armenia and Turkey.
Smolensk Square assured that Lavrov and Cavusoglu will pay "increased attention" to normalization of Syrian-Turkish relations. Earlier this week, four-party talks on the issue were held in Moscow at the level of the deputy foreign ministers (Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran). Following these consultations, there will be a meeting of the foreign ministers. It is possible that in Ankara the ministers will be able to set preliminary dates.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS