The European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, on Thursday thanked Turkey for its role in mediating Russia’s return to the pact to export grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
«The EU appreciates the role of the United Nations and Turkey in Russia’s decision to return to the Black Sea grain initiative. Food should never be used as a weapon of war,» the head of EU diplomacy has assessed in a message on social networks.
In this regard, he called on all parties to resume the initiative and make it work, noting that it is crucial to address the global food crisis that Russia has exacerbated with the invasion of the neighboring country.
Moscow announced Tuesday its return to the agreement signed in June with Ukraine to guarantee grain exports, after breaking it last weekend in retaliation for an attack on its fleet in the Black Sea.
The Russian Defense Ministry has considered «sufficient» the guarantees received from the UN and Turkey, so that the Ukrainian forces will not use this agreement to carry out military operations against Russia.
The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has played a key mediating role and has spoken with both his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and the Ukrainian, Volodimir Zelenski, to ensure the return to the pact and the functioning of an agreement which since June has allowed the export of almost 10 million tons.
