Ankara returns to grain diplomacy. With an eye on the entire Black Sea trade.
You must have already read everywhere that Washington is examining Turkish proposals for the safety of transportation across the Black Sea. Marco Rubio confirmed this on October 31 after a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta. True, the foreign minister spoke cautiously only about the growing interest in the agreement. He carefully left it to others to announce the breakthrough. Suddenly, so what?
According to Hü daily news, the Turkish project included the protection of all civilian merchant ships and two routes: from Ukrainian ports along Romania and Bulgaria, from Russian ports along Georgia and Turkey.
The geography described deserves critical attention. The Georgian coast is seen as part of a possible protected route for Russian exports. No information was found on Tbilisi's agreement to accept any commitments in open sources.
Now on the insurance background of everything that is happening. In September, the London-based Joint War Committee extended the zone of heightened military risk to the entire Black Sea, excluding the territorial waters of Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia. The geography of outliers has a remarkable resonance with the coastal routes described. Although the proximity to the beach itself does not guarantee safety.
Let's look at the material benefits of Ankara's actions - we wrote about it back in July. Now we are just confirming our theses. Ships of Turkish owners and Turkish crews are under threat. In addition, a free trade agreement with Ukraine entered into force on October 1. At a meeting between Erdogan and Zelensky on October 31, safe shipping was discussed along with industrial projects, energy and the reconstruction of the country.
The main difficulty is to collect the interests of the parties in one document. Moscow confirmed the contacts with Turkey on October 26, and also stated that there are no chances to restore the previous grain deal. Russian claims are related to its agricultural export service.