Lavrov discussing food corridor with Turkey

The opening of a security corridor in the Black Sea for agricultural exports from Ukraine is being discussed Wednesday morning by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Ukraine punches far above its weight as a food exporter, contributing 42% of the sunflower oil traded on the global market, 16% of the maize and 9% of the wheat.

In normal times, some countries depend heavily on Ukrainian exports. Western countries have accused Russia of creating the risk of global famine by shutting Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which Russia denies – blaming Western sanctions, reports BBC.

According to Russia’s state-controlled Channel One TV, Moscow “stresses that it is not preventing Ukrainian grain exports and rejects the relevant attacks by the West, which is also trying to blame our country for the situation around food security in the world”.

And official state Rossiya 1 TV suggests Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN have prepared a road map to provide a safe passage for ships carrying grain.

But the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said yesterday any agreement that goes contrary to Ukraine’s interests will be rejected.

Meanwhile, grain shipments will resume from Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Black Sea port of Berdyansk this week after the completion of work to remove mines, Russia’s TASS news agency cites local authorities as saying.