Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answer to a media question at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye Hakan Fidan, Moscow, August 31, 2023

Ladies and gentlemen,

We held extensive and in-depth talks with Foreign Minister of Türkiye, Mr Hakan Fidan.

We noted the dynamic development of bilateral relations. The intensive trust-based political dialogue continues to move forward, primarily at the highest level between President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Recently, they have been regularly in contact. They spoke by phone and met several times in person. Another regular informal summit where all areas of our partnership are expected to be reviewed is scheduled to take place soon.

Trade and economic ties between our two countries are rapidly and intensively developing. In 2022, trade increased by about 90 percent, hitting an all-time high of $62.4 billion. Recently, Türkiye appointed a new co-chair to the Mixed Intergovernmental Russian-Turkish Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. An agreement was reached to hold the next regular meeting of the commission in Türkiye before long.

Our strategic projects, primarily in energy, are making good progress. Energy is traditionally seen as a driver of our relations. The construction of all four power units for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is on target to be completed as scheduled.

We reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to all agreements on boosting exports of natural gas, including through the initiative of the presidents of our two countries to create an integrated gas distribution hub in Türkiye.

We gave special attention to issues related to the safety of Russian nationals vacationing in Türkiye. We are interested in making progress in this sector.

This year everyone witnessed Russia’s rapid response to Türkiye’s request for assistance in fighting natural disasters, and today Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed his thanks for this. Along with relief efforts by the Russian Emergencies Ministry following the February earthquake, [Russia] responded without delay to the request from its Turkish friends to send them Russian Beriev Be-200ChS amphibious aircraft to fight forest fires on the Aegean Sea coast.

We had an in-depth discussion on current regional topics, including developments in the Middle East, North Africa, the South Caucasus, Central Asia and the Black Sea region.

We had an in-depth discussion of our goals in the context of normalising Syrian-Turkish relations. As you may be aware, during the 20th International Meeting in the Astana format held in Kazakhstan in June 2023, this issue was reviewed, and a number of agreements were reached. We discussed additional steps to help Ankara and Damascus restore diplomatic relations and establish full-scale cooperation.

We are in favour of deepening interaction in other areas, including the South Caucasus, as well. We are interested in facilitating the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Türkiye, as well as in implementing all agreements reached between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia since November 2020, including unlocking transport routes and communications and post-conflict reconstruction. We believe Türkiye can play a constructive and beneficial role in these efforts.

We discussed at length the situation in and around Ukraine, including the initiatives that are meant to promote President Zelensky's unacceptable, ultimatum-driven non-starter of a peace formula. We made it clear why it is impossible to rely on the efforts that are being made in this sphere, as they attempt to substitute them for serious discussions about ensuring equal and indivisible security, which will prevent conflicts in Europe.

We discussed the issue that had arisen after the Black Sea Initiative for exporting grain from Ukrainian ports was discontinued on July 18. We conveyed to our Turkish partners our understanding of what needs to be done primarily in the West to restore the viability of this initiative.

President Putin has repeatedly stated officially and clearly that as soon as measures are taken not just regarding the talks about the Russian part of the Black Sea Package, but regarding the resolution of all holdover issues despite UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ promises, whose efforts we hold in high regard, as soon as talks become concrete decisions, we will be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package on that very day.

We discussed President Vladimir Putin’s initiative about supplying up to 1 million tonnes of Russian grain to Türkiye at reduced prices for subsequent processing at Turkish plants and shipping it further to the countries most in need. This matter is being discussed with the participation of our friends from Qatar, who are willing to take part in the financial aspects of this initiative.

I would like to note that we welcome Türkiye’s independent foreign policy, which is geared towards its own national interests. We are well aware of the fact that the West is trying to cast doubt on this posture. For them, Türkiye’s position is a major irritant.

In this context, we consider constructive and equitable interaction with our country mutually beneficial economically and advantageous in terms of strengthening the sovereign basis of Türkiye’s foreign policy. We invariably strive to accommodate the requests of our Turkish partners to the fullest extent. This includes discounts on Russian energy, long-term energy supply agreements, measures to support the tourism industry by encouraging tourists from Russia, and expanding imports of Turkish fruits and vegetables to our market. We strongly believe that in line with the agreements between our presidents, our Turkish partners will continue to respond with reciprocity despite pressure from the United States and its allies who seek to pit everyone against the Russian Federation. I am confident that these attempts will remain futile.

Recently, in his congratulatory message on the occasion of the state holiday of Victory Day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Türkiye would never compromise its independence. We fully share the same principles regarding the Russian Federation. We will continue to help each other defend our principled approaches in the international arena.

The effectiveness of our policy dialogue and economic cooperation will continue to depend on mutual willingness to consider each other’s concerns and interests and to seek to balance them. Our Turkish partners possess the necessary strategic vision.

We will continue to adhere to approaches based on mutual respect and a balance of interests.

I believe we had a productive discussion. I thank my colleague and friend.

Question: In case Moscow’s terms regarding the grain deal are met, will there be a fallback on the original version? Or can a new format be considered? What other priority issues will be discussed at a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Türkiye, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Sergey Lavrov: President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said (as did I, in my opening remarks) that as soon as all the assurances contained in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Federation and the UN Secretariat  on assistance in promoting Russian food  and fertilisers on the global markets (part of the package of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres) are acted upon, we will immediately return to fulfilling everything that is recorded in the Ukrainian part.

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned Antonio Guterres’ efforts to advance this issue. President Putin and I have reiterated that we appreciate the Secretary-General’s efforts. I recently spoke with him on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, and he shared his most recent initiatives and sent me a corresponding message

We were clear with the UN Secretary-General and our Turkish friends that this message still provided no guarantees, just promises to try to make things happen faster. It all comes down to the fact that the West is obstructing the solution to issues that hinder stronger efforts to export Russian grain and fertiliser. The UN officials themselves cannot do much. They have to ask the West to act prudently and constructively, which it is not willing to do. So far, everything has come down to promises. I can only reiterate that when there are guarantees with a concrete result that can be implemented tomorrow, then the implementation of the package will be resumed in full the next day as well.

In many ways, the importance of the situation that arose after the Black Sea Initiative had been discontinued is artificially inflated by Western media. We provided our Turkish colleagues with statistics from FAO, UNDP, and commodity exchanges that trade in grains to show there was no global food crisis or price surge. The cost is fluctuating, but basically it remains at the 2021 level.

President Vladimir Putin guaranteed that we would fully compensate for the portion of the Ukrainian grain that had been shipped to the countries in need while the Black Sea Initiative was in effect (less than 3 percent of the total exports of the Ukrainian products).

I want to draw attention to President Putin’s announcement at the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg, where he said  Russia would provide up to 50,000 tonnes of grain free of charge to each of the six African countries most in need. Moreover, we will cover the transport costs as well. In addition to this, the initiative to provide 1 million tonnes of grain under a possible Russian-Turkish-Qatari project is being discussed.

Regarding other issues that President Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may discuss, it is up to the presidents to decide. They set their agenda. It is not our role to speculate about it.