Ukraine strongly opposes the imposition of any restrictions on the import of its grain by neighbouring countries after a European Union ban ends on September 15, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said yesterday.
After the Russian invasion blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, large quantities of the country’s grain - which is cheaper than EU crops - stayed in Central Europe due to logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.
The EU in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds until Sept. 15, while allowing transit of cargoes for export elsewhere.
The five countries want the ban extended until the end of the year and some have threatened to introduce their own restrictions if Brussels does not act.
Kuleba said Kyiv was “adamantly against” any such steps.
“This move will violate rules of common market,” he said during a visit to the Czech capital Prague. “This move will violate the Ukraine-EU association agreement...it will go against the principle of solidarity.”
He said Ukraine was ready to seek solutions but that grains should not be hostage to domestic political processes in the countries involved.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia soon to discuss the collapsed United Nations deal that had allowed Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain, a spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said yesterday.
The UN- and Turkey-brokered deal lasted a year but ended last month after Moscow quit. Ankara is seeking to persuade Russia to return to the agreement, under which Odesa’s seaports shipped tens of millions of tons of grain.
Since the grain-export deal collapsed, Russian forces have targeted Ukrainian ports with volleys of missiles and kamikaze drones.
Omer Celik, the AK Party spokesperson, said Erdogan would visit Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi “soon” but did not specify whether he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“After this visit there may be developments and new stages may be reached regarding” the grain deal, he told reporters.
The Kremlin said on Friday there was an understanding the two leaders will meet in person soon.
Bloomberg cited two anonymous sources in reporting that Erdogan is expected to meet Putin in Russia next week, possibly on September 8, before he travels to a G20 meeting in India.
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