Trains loaded with cargo wait in line on a railroad track in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia’s western offshore territory, on the 21st (local time). Russian authorities are strongly opposed to Lithuania’s recent restrictions on the shipment of goods subject to EU sanctions to Kaliningrad via its territory. [AP = 연합뉴스]A meeting will be held next week in Turkey (Turkeyy) to discuss the transport of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain to the Black Sea, which Russia has blocked off amid a global food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters and other foreign media reported on the 21st (local time) that the Turkish government would invite delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations to Istanbul to hold a four-party meeting within ten days, citing a Turkish source. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also attend the four-party meeting.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported on the same day that a four-party meeting between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations to discuss grain transport issues would be held in Istanbul next week, citing a Turkish source.
According to Reuters, three corridors have been opened under the supervision of Ukrainian authorities at four ports in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, adjacent to the Black Sea, and then grains are shipped from there.
The amount of grain being shipped here is expected to reach 35 million tons within six to eight months.
However, UN Secretary-General Spokesperson Stefan Dujaric declined to comment on the plan, saying that “discussions related to the matter are ongoing.” The Turkish side, the organizer of the conference, is said to be considering transporting Russian grain as well as Ukrainian grain through the port of Odessa. Before the war, wheat produced by Ukraine and Russia accounted for about 30% of the world’s supply.
Lithuania, one of the three Baltic countries that has been at odds with Russia, recently decided to expand the limits on freight transport to Kaliningrad, a Russian offshore territory, from railroads to automobiles.
Lithuania has severely restricted rail freight transport to Kaliningrad through its territory since the 18th. It is said that the items subject to the transport restrictions account for 50% of cargo from Russia to Kaliningrad. The Lithuanian authorities said this is in response to EU sanctions against Russia that were initiated on the 17th.
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