ANKARA (NET) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday thanked Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu over the resumption of the Black Sea grain corridor deal with Turkish initiative.
In a phone call, Cavusoglu and Blinken discussed developments regarding the Black Sea grain corridor and Ukraine, according to diplomatic sources.
NATO membership bids of Sweden and Finland, and the modernization of the Turkish F-16 fleet were also on the agenda of their conversation.
Cavusoglu informed Blinken of Türkiye’s draft resolution to the UN General Assembly regarding zero waste.
Russia had suspended its participation in the Black Sea grain deal over an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol with drones.
Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that British specialists helped the Ukrainian army coordinate the attack. The so-called Ukrainian attack was on the duty of ensuring the safety of the grain corridor, according to Russian authorities.
Russia took necessary written guarantees from Ukraine regarding the grain deal “thanks to the participation of the UN and the support of Türkiye,” Russian Defense Ministry earlier in the day said in a written statement.
Moscow's war on Ukraine started on Feb. 24. The referenda on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, including breakaway Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, were held in late September.
We are grateful for the active role of the @UN and our Turkish allies in facilitating Russia’s return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative. We urge all parties to renew the Initiative. Failure to do so would hurt the world’s most vulnerable.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 2, 2022