He will meet with his Iranian and Turkish colleagues and deal with, among other things, unblocking Ukrainian grain exports to alleviate the world food crisis
Amid the current conflict with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Tuesday morning with the intention of meeting his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in Iran on Monday evening. . The three leaders will hold a tripartite meeting, in addition to the separate meetings in a bilateral format.
The contacts are expected to cover three topics: Putin and Raisi will discuss energy and military cooperation, including the section on the possible sale of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine; Putin and Erdogan will tackle Ukraine’s grain exports to alleviate the world food crisis and the three will analyze the current situation in Syria and the war in Ukraine.
On the 13th, a technical-level meeting of representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, including military experts, was held in Istanbul to unblock Ukrainian grain exports. Following the meeting, there was talk of alignment of positions and the imminent establishment of a “coordination center” to ensure safe maritime routes, but a possible final decision was delayed until this week. There has even been speculation that Putin and Erdogan could announce a preliminary agreement in Tehran this Tuesday.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry assured that “a final document” has already been prepared to allow the exit through the Black Sea of some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain stored in the port of Odessa while also allowing Russia also exports its grain and fertilizers.
On Monday, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, also expressed hope that “this week” the long-awaited agreement will be reached once and for all. Borrell said “the lives of tens of thousands of people depend on such an agreement”, pointing out that the negotiations are “not a diplomatic game”, but “a matter of life or death”. In his words, “Russia must lift the blockade and allow the export of Ukrainian grain, otherwise we will have to continue to condemn its use of food as a weapon, with no regard for people’s lives.”
However, German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir was much less optimistic because of the lack of credibility Moscow has in his view. “Whoever still believes in Putin’s word can also believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny,” said Özdemir on Monday, arriving at the meeting in Brussels.
Syria is also one of the central themes of today’s talks in Tehran and an easy deal is not in sight either. For several weeks, Turkey has been threatening a military offensive in the north of the country against the Kurds with the aim of establishing a “security zone” of 30 kilometers on the border and inland. Moscow has asked Ankara to renounce such an idea, and Iran is on Russia’s side in this regard.
For their part, Putin and Raisi intend to tackle the Iran nuclear program agreement, although the most pressing issue concerns Tehran’s possible sale to Moscow of drones for use in Ukraine, despite the Iranian authorities reiterating that there is no such intention. However, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that Russian specialists went to Iran’s airport in Kashan on June 8 and July 5 to witness demonstrations of the operation of the Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones. This Monday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price stated that “in light of a possible Iranian delivery of drone technology to Russia, we will continue to monitor very closely. All of our sanctions remain in place. Any such transaction would involve a series of additional sanctions that we have in our portfolio and presumably a series of sanctions that countries around the world have planned.
The one supplying drones is Turkey to Ukraine, the Bayraktar UAVs, with great effectiveness, something Putin probably blames Erdogan again. The United States also supplies Kiev with several types of smaller drones, as well as a wide variety of weapons.
So, barring some surprises, no substantial progress is expected on any of the topics discussed at this Tehran summit. It is more like a trip organized by the Kremlin with the aim of showing internally that Russia is not isolated internationally. The Russian president made his first foreign trip at the end of June after the start of the military intervention in Ukraine. He traveled to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Source: La Verdad
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