Turkish TQ Samsun became the last dry cargo ship to leave the Ukrainian port as part of the grain agreement that will expire on 17 July. This was reported by Reuters and the monitoring service Marine Traffic.
The ship left Odessa at 08:12 and will arrive in Istanbul on 17 July at 14:00. The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul reported that the dry cargo ship will then go to the Netherlands. According to the available data, it carries 38.8 thousand tons of agricultural products.
The previous day, SKC reported that only grain-laden TQ Samsun was operating at the port. The center has not allowed for new inspections since June 27.
“Great diplomatic costs”
Meanwhile, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with CBS that Washington is ready for any decision Russia makes regarding the grain deal.
“Russia is likely to come out of this, maybe they will continue… We are ready for any scenario and we are working closely with the Ukrainians on this.”
said.
Sullivan noted that, according to the United States, the Russian Federation’s refusal to extend the agreement would result in “huge diplomatic costs” for Moscow. Still, he concluded that the choice belonged to President Vladimir Putin.
find a compromise
TASS agency, citing a diplomatic source in Turkey, stated that the decision to expand the humanitarian initiative could be made at the last moment.
“Of course, the decision will be made at the last moment and if Russia sees it appropriate to extend the agreement, it will be possible,” the source said.
as stated by the interlocutor TASSMoscow’s latest statements show its determination to not extend the grain deal, and it will be necessary to find the necessary arguments and compromises to restart the supply of agricultural products.
The current state of the negotiations
On 12 July, the representative of the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said that António Guterres had sent a letter to Putin with proposals for the implementation of the Russian leg of the initiative. The aim is to remove the obstacles to financial transactions through Ziraat Bank, which is of great concern for the Russian Federation, and at the same time to ensure the continuation of the Ukrainian grain flow through the Black Sea.”
The next day, Putin summed up expectations for the grain deal as “finally enough”, but stated that Russia could withdraw its participation in the grain agreement until Moscow’s conditions were met. He also said that he had not seen a new letter from the UN Secretary General, but that Moscow was in contact with the organization’s employees. According to him, the UN is trying to improve the situation with the grain agreement, but this is blocked by Western countries.
On July 14, Turkish President Recep Tayop Erdogan said he was confident in the Russian leader’s visit to Turkey in August, noting that he and Putin had “common positions” on the grain deal.
“We are preparing to host Putin in Turkey in August. “We are of the same opinion on the expansion of the grain corridor,” said Erdogan.
UN grain agreement data
On 15 July, the UN coordination center summarized the results of the grain agreement. Thus, the Center recognized that 90% of the corn and 60% of the wheat is sent to rich countries and countries belonging to upper middle income countries.
During the year, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen received 2.5% of the food transported under the agreement – just over 822,000 tons, out of more than 33 million tons, according to the centre.
During the grain agreement period, a total of 1003 ships left the Ukrainian ports with grain, we are talking about more than 32.8 million tons of cargo.