Bloomberg: Turkish President Erdoğan urges G20 leaders to meet Russian demands on grain deal

Turkish President Recep Erdoğan is urging several Group of 20 leaders to meet some of Russia’s demands to try to revive the grain deal.

Bloomberg reports this, citing three officials close to the negotiations.

In particular, the Turkish president is asking for Lloyd's of London to facilitate insurance of Russian food and fertiliser exports, as well as for Russia to be reconnected to the SWIFT system.

According to several diplomats, Russia has so far rejected the UN's compromise, which proposed to create a subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank and grant it access to the SWIFT system. 

At the same time, Erdoğan has not given up trying to bring Russia back into the Black Sea Initiative.

"Turkey frequently mentions the status of the grain talks during meetings. Ankara is trying to find consensus in an effort to revive the deal," an unnamed Indian official told Bloomberg.

On September 4, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan met with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia. He failed to persuade the Russian president to return to the grain deal.

It will be recalled that the German newspaper Bild published a secret letter from UN Secretary-General Guterres to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, in which the UN agreed to meet some of Russia's demands to bring it back into the Black Sea Initiative.