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00:00 Well, we're interrupting our regular programming now to cross live to Sochi, where Vladimir
00:09 Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey are just starting to speak. Let's listen in.
00:14 Today, our negotiations were very businesslike and friendly. We looked at all the key issues
00:34 of our cooperation in security, economy, culture, and in the humanitarian sphere. We also exchanged
00:45 our opinions on our regional and international agendas. In terms of our bilateral economic
00:52 ties, we were satisfied to see that we have increasing trade, and it has increased by
01:02 over 80% since last year, and for many more billions of dollars. And in the first half
01:12 of this year, it grew by another 4%. And we see that there's a very active trend of the
01:20 use of the ruble and the lira in trade, and the dollar and the euro consequently have
01:28 been less used. Our central banks are working hard on developing correspondence networks
01:36 for the credit systems of both countries. So our cooperation is all strategic in energy.
01:47 The Akua NPP will soon begin to work, and it has four units with over 400 megawatts.
01:59 And many of our experts, nuclear experts, engineers are working day and night in order
02:05 for the first unit to begin in the year 2024. In April of this year, at Akaya, there was
02:13 for the first time some nuclear fuel, and it then received the status of a nuclear facility.
02:22 So now Turkey has joined the club of those using peaceful nuclear power. We also work
02:31 in the gas sector together, and we have provided 20.5 billion cubic meters, and we will be
02:45 increasing this. And I want to say that Russia has always been and will continue to be a
02:51 reliable and responsible partner, and we want to help Turkey continue to provide it with
02:59 very environmentally friendly fuel. And we are also going to develop relations so that
03:08 Turkey becomes a transit country for fuel going further on. And for that purpose, we
03:14 will create a gas hub in Turkey. Gazprom has given Bataj, a Turkish company, a roadmap
03:25 for this, and a workgroup has been set up for the framework of the functioning of this
03:31 hub and also to have a trading platform set up. We have a good pace in operations for
03:42 cooperation in agriculture. We have increased our food exports to many billions, and this
03:51 will continue to grow. Between January and July, it will increase further. And we've
04:02 had over 5 million Russians visiting Turkey as tourists, and we know this will continue
04:08 to grow. And we consider that this trend will continue in the future, and our key agencies
04:17 will continue to work with Turkey in order to ensure that when Russians go to Turkey,
04:22 they will be safe and comfortable. Our Turkish friends are doing everything in their power
04:28 to ensure this. Russia has always, in a friendly way, tried to help Turkey when it suffers
04:37 from natural disasters of all kinds. After the February destructive earthquakes, our
04:45 country sent search and rescue teams, and also we have provided the amphibian planes
04:58 to extinguish fires. And during our negotiations, we have talked about international issues,
05:05 the situation around Ukraine, and of course we spoke of the end of the functioning of
05:13 the grain deal, of grain exiting Ukrainian ports. Turkish President spoke of this many
05:22 times, but Russia had to pull out of it because Western countries were blocking many things,
05:30 including Russian agricultural companies, any access to external markets, and our food
05:40 and fertilizer was not being accepted as export. There were issues with chartering ships and
05:50 insurance as well as logistics issues. And while Russia was providing guarantees of security
05:58 for the navigating, the other side used this humanitarian corridor for terrorist attacks
06:06 against civilian Russian structures. This had to be responded to. So we also want to
06:14 point out that the fact that Russia pulled them did not have a massive impact on the
06:20 supply of food. And we see price of grain continues to fall, and there are no massive
06:27 shortages, but there is a problem with food distribution. But this is in no way related
06:33 to the grain deal, and we don't see anything surprising in this. Why? Because Ukraine's
06:40 share in the grain market is 5% and remains 5%, and in the future will probably be reduced.
06:52 The West has tried to pull the wool over our eyes in terms of supposedly helping developing
06:58 countries, because with all of the grain pulled out, I want to say that over 70% -- I emphasize
07:07 70% of that grain went to developed countries, namely EU countries, whereas those countries
07:14 really needing food assistance only received 3%. That is less than a million tons. And
07:22 I once again want to reiterate our position. We can resuscitate this grain deal, and I
07:30 have said this to the Turkish President, and we will do this as soon as all the agreements
07:39 will be fulfilled in terms of eliminating all restrictions on Russian agricultural export.
07:47 And Russia continues to and will continue to export its food and fertilizer to improve
07:57 the food situation through the world, and will organize a shipping of one million tons
08:05 of grain out of Russia on a preferential rate to Turkey to be then redirected to the poorest
08:14 countries. And we are relying on Qatar's support in order to ensure that we can support
08:26 the poorest countries. We are close to finalizing an agreement with six African countries where
08:34 we plan to send this food assistance free of charge, and also the shipping and logistics
08:43 would be free of charge. The negotiations have almost been finalized, I would say, in
08:49 the next few weeks. During the negotiations, we also talked about the settlement of the
08:58 Syrian question, and we cherish our cooperation with Turkey in this. And on the Astanin format,
09:10 we think this is the best format for negotiations, and it's important that we have basic approaches
09:16 that we agree on on the Syrian issue that is respecting sovereignty and territorial
09:23 integrity of the country. And we know that a great deal of reconstruction has to take
09:30 place, but you need national reconciliation first, and the Syrians themselves must define
09:37 their own future without others interfering. Now, with regard to Libya, we confirm a complex
09:48 situation based on compromises to avoid an upsurge of violence. And on the whole, I think
09:59 that in all these regional issues, our discussions were very, very useful. And I would like in
10:05 conclusion to express my gratitude to the President of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, for the
10:13 productive dialogue and fruitful work. And I am sure that these negotiations will further
10:20 develop our relations in all spheres. Thank you.
10:24 Thank you.
10:31 Members of Delegations, Journalists, My most heartfelt welcomes and respect to all of you.
10:51 I would like to thank my dear friend Vladimir Putin for inviting me here and for showing
10:55 his great hospitality once again. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone
11:05 of a few points, in particular the essential aid that we have provided Russia and the aid
11:12 that Russia has provided us in light of the most recent earthquakes and the bushfires,
11:20 also in light of Astana and the Conference on Asia, the establishment of economic trust.
11:27 Since that meeting was held, we have continued to hold regular phone conversations and phone
11:35 contact between Vladimir Putin and myself. We met today in person, but we have also met
11:42 with our various delegations. We spoke of trade, energy, agriculture, tourism, the economy,
11:49 finance in particular. We spoke also of relations between our nations in many domains. And we
11:59 spoke also of everything that we can continue to do in the future. We had roughly $69 billion
12:10 in trade between our two nations. We want to reach a yearly target of $100 billion.
12:15 And we will hopefully reach that in the very near future. So our relations are quite well.
12:19 In 2022, there were 5 million, more than 5 million Russian citizens who came to spend
12:27 their holidays in Turkey. And in 2023, in the first seven months of the year, 7.3 million
12:34 Russian tourists have already come to Turkey. And this figure is continuing to rise and
12:38 will continue to do so through to the end of the year. We insisted in our negotiations
12:46 on a number of points so that a number of items can come back to the fore. Also, for
12:57 example, we spoke of the bureau in the northern Cypriot regions. And we also want Russia to
13:06 step in on a number of points, in particular when it comes to grain deliveries to Russia,
13:14 to Africa. A number of alternatives were discussed. There was the initiative for the Black Sea.
13:21 This is one that we spoke of at great length. And we spoke of our various positions. And
13:26 we want to come up with a long-term solution. There are a number of expectations coming
13:32 from the Russian side, where Turkey is aware of those expectations. And our Russian counterparts
13:41 raised a number of points during the negotiations. We need to cover any gaps and shortfall that
13:52 we have so that we can get these basic staples to the people who need them. And these were
14:01 all comments that we shared when we had our one-on-one meeting. In terms of the United
14:06 Nations, we need to see new initiatives coming to the fore. There needs to be a new process
14:13 put in place. And I think with that, we will be able to come to a speedy outcome. While
14:25 waiting for that, we need to have a short-term solution that fulfils everyone's expectations
14:30 and needs. To the members of the press here today, I would like to reiterate that there
14:35 is a great sense of stability in our region. We are doing everything in our power to ensure
14:40 that stability will remain. And we need to come about a solution for sustainable long-term
14:53 peace. In times of war, no one wins. Everyone wants peace because through peace, everyone
15:03 will win. So therefore, we need to have direct meetings in the very near future with all
15:10 the parties. We are willing to take part in similar initiatives that have been taken in
15:17 the past for negotiations. But during our discussions with Mr Putin, we spoke of other
15:26 issues about Syria, Nibibia, other issues in the African continent. But thanks to our
15:39 genuine long-term relations as neighbouring countries, we feel that we need to continue
15:45 these relations in the future because it is in our shared interest but also in the region's
15:49 interest. Turkish-Russian relations are positive, are on solid ground. And we are continuing
16:04 our long-term, ongoing discussions with Russia to ensure that those relations will stay strong
16:10 into the future. We also spoke of the nuclear facility in Turkey. Work is continuing, satisfactorily
16:21 so. There's also discussion of the facility again in Turkey. And other steps forward are
16:34 going to be made in the near future, thanks to which Turkey will be able to make a huge
16:41 shift in terms of its own energy provision. I would like to thank once again Vladimir
16:47 Putin for his kind show of hospitality, having us here for these discussions. And I certainly
16:55 hope that the sound relations that we showed today will continue in the future.
17:11 This is from the Anatol press outfit. We have a question for both Presidents. For there
17:21 to be an end brought to the conflict between Russia and Turkey, Mr Erdogan, we see that
17:25 you are doing a lot, as much as you are doing in diplomatic terms, to bring this conflict
17:32 to an end, for there is a ceasefire to be brought forward. So what are you going to
17:36 get to do?
17:42 In the Black Sea Green Initiative, do you think that in this region the Green Deal should
17:50 be continued?
17:58 With respect to the efforts of President Erdogan to settle the crisis in Ukraine, he has always
18:09 paid a great deal of attention to this and continues to do so, including when we speak
18:14 one on one. And Turkey's mediation facilitated the agreement reached between the Russian
18:25 and Ukrainian delegation. But subsequently Ukraine then sent them to the dumpster. Nobody
18:38 has talked about that. We are hearing about new initiatives. Well, it's not what was
18:46 discussed before. That's not what's, you know, there's nothing new being accepted.
18:52 Now in terms of their intermediary services, we've never refused them and we have always
19:00 welcomed initiatives also from the Chinese government, from African countries. But we
19:05 of course are grateful to the Turkish President's efforts in this area.
19:11 Now with regard to renewing the Green Deal, I've already said this. I don't think I can
19:21 add anything. We initially agreed to participate in this, including because we had coordinated,
19:28 again through the intermediary assistance of the Turkish President and with the United
19:33 Nations. We promised to carry it. We also obtained a promise for some obligations for
19:42 the Russian side. But once we attained this deal, none of the obligations for Russia were
19:51 fulfilled. We were asked to continue participating without having these obligations fulfilled.
20:01 We then were asked to extend the deal. We did. And a third time we were asked to extend
20:09 or renew our partnership and we asked that the obligations for us be fulfilled. And as
20:15 usual, often this is the case with our Western partners, they again pulled will over our
20:23 eyes. So that's it. We said we are not against this deal. We can return immediately to this
20:30 deal as soon as the promises made to us will have been fulfilled. Today they're all fulfilled.
20:39 In the next few days we will fully resume our participation in this deal.
20:45 What else can I add? If only to say we always agreed that these corridors for humanitarian
21:00 operations should not be used for military purposes, but they are being used by the other
21:05 side. And there are also attempts being made with regard to the Turkish flow and the flow
21:15 of natural gas. Our ships are protecting these pipelines, but they're always under attack
21:24 and including with drones from Ukrainian ports. So we have to agree about everything that
21:34 none of that will happen in the future. And in that case, Russia will also fulfill its
21:40 promises. We have no problems in that regard. None at all. We are going to have a good,
21:48 bountiful harvest this year. Last year it was 150,000 tons. And I think this year it
21:57 will be about 130. And I think, yes, we have a very good harvest. So the export potential
22:05 is enormous. We have Turkey as a major partner and they will be processing grain. So they
22:13 will be able to cover their needs in grain. And together we can work going forward, as
22:20 Mr President has said. And we're ready to return to this Black Sea Initiative and together
22:28 with Turkey and Qatar help the poorest countries. I think they're about 50 million. Up to six
22:42 African countries. We're ready to provide to each of them 50,000 tons. In the next days
22:51 to come, we are ready to work and we'll continue to work in all these areas.
23:06 As President Putin just said, for Ukraine, we need to see positive joint steps made by
23:22 both Russia and Ukraine. We need both sides to show more flexibility so the humanitarian
23:32 grain corridor can be opened through the Black Sea, so that the least developed countries
23:37 can receive that grain, especially in Africa. Grain needs to reach these countries. 44%
23:50 of the grain is currently being sent to Europe. And Russia doesn't agree with this. 14% comes
24:01 through to Turkey. And roughly 6% of the grain that reaches the African continent is all
24:16 they're getting. So what Russia is trying to say is that they want to see this grain
24:22 properly reaching African soil. We spoke about 1 million tons of grain being sent directly
24:34 to Africa and we're going to do everything that we can, logistically speaking, to make
24:39 sure this actually happens. And we said that we are willing and ready to do everything
24:48 that needs to be done to make this happen. We're going to do everything for this grain
24:53 to maybe be transferred through Turkish processing facilities and mills so that the end product
25:04 can then reach Africa, if that's the way to act as a middleman in this situation, then
25:10 so be it. And this is a situation that -- a solution that we're looking into.
25:15 Vladimir Putin has made a key mention of six countries in Africa that desperately need
25:23 this grain. So we hope that this solution can be brought through in a speedy fashion.
25:29 I will have two questions. One to both -- it's a clarifying question to both presidents. You
25:40 have talked about Qatar's participation in this export. Can this be a full or partial
25:50 replacement of the grain deal? And the second question for Mr. Putin -- Mr. President, many
25:57 sources talk about some kind of, let's say, breakage or a slowing of the offensive by
26:14 Ukraine. And in that regard, do you think that there could be perhaps room for some
26:21 kind of negotiations with Russia? With regard to grain, we don't see our work with Turkey
26:33 and Qatar of this one million tons of grain. This is not an alternative. We know that Ukraine
26:44 has its own grain. This is not a replacement, a substitute. But for us, of course, it would
26:51 be, that is, for us a massive contribution to resolving the food crisis in African countries.
26:58 Now, with respect to the -- well, the fact that this is -- it's not that it's slowing
27:06 down. This counteroffensive is not slowing down. It's a failure. And, well, it's probably
27:13 just going to continue that way. So I want to say that Russia has never refused to engage
27:20 in any negotiations and does not do so now. And the Turkish President broached this, and
27:27 I confirm that this is the case. Indeed, Qatar compared in relation to the least developed
27:51 countries and to speak to the fact that the grain needs to be first processed and turned
27:57 into flour before sent to these countries, well, Qatar and Russia and Turkey, we have
28:06 formed a trio. We and Russia, we're looking to form a trio. We hope Qatar will be part
28:13 of that trio so that we can send this grain or the grain by-product to those people who
28:19 need it. Thank you very much. You're listening live there to President Erdogan and President
28:36 Putin speaking about a range of issues, including, crucially, the Ukraine grain deal, which Russia
28:43 pulled out of in July of this year, impacting global food supply. Putin there defending
28:49 his decision to exit that deal, but then went on to say that the grain agreement can be
28:55 resuscitated if what he describes as restrictions on Russian exports to different countries
29:03 are lifted. Well, listening to that with me was Oliver Farrie from our Foreign Affairs
29:08 desk. And Oliver, first of all, crucially, the question here is, does it sound to you
29:13 like this Ukraine grain deal is going to be revived now? Not immediately. Vladimir Putin
29:19 is very much cleaving to the same line he has up until now. They want the restrictions
29:24 lifted. Vladimir Putin is also in no rush to get things back to where they were. He
29:30 himself said that grain prices continue to fall as Russia pulling out of the grain deal
29:38 six weeks ago has not had a major, massive impact on the grain trade. He does, however,
29:45 say that distribution is the problem. And this is something that he plays quite well
29:51 in developing countries. It's a way that Russia can more or less paint the West as the villain
29:59 here, the people who are obstructing grain from getting to developing countries. He said
30:04 that 70 percent of the grain is going to developing countries, only 3 percent to underdeveloped
30:10 ones. Now, that's not entirely true, because in many cases, the stuff that is going to
30:16 Western countries is actually going to institutions who then sell it on to developing countries.
30:24 But he knows exactly that he's got and he will have an audience for this in countries.
30:31 Also in countries in the global South, he's also said that there will be six African states
30:36 where one million tons of grains will be sent to in the coming days. This is brokered by
30:41 both Turkey and Qatar. So this, he said himself, it's not an alternative to the grain deal.
30:48 He's obviously trying to show that he's being very calm and rational on this. But it's certainly
30:54 a stopgap and it's something that will play well for Russia among countries that are genuinely
31:01 worried about their grain supplies for the coming months.
31:05 And I'm interested, Oliver, in what you made of the language of Putin and Erdogan more
31:10 broadly. You know, they talk not just about Ukraine. They also talked about Syria, about
31:15 Libya, and they talked about trade as well. They talked about tourism and, you know, apparently
31:21 rather cordial relations between the two countries, a sort of strengthening alliance, perhaps.
31:28 I wonder if you agree with that and I wonder what you think the Western reaction to that
31:33 might be.
31:34 Well, Turkey and Russia have certainly been going in this direction for several years
31:38 now. And Recep Tayyip Erdogan has more or less had a fairly independent line on Russia,
31:47 despite Turkey being a NATO member. This will be greeted with a little bit of dismay in
31:53 Western capitals. I think Turkey's, most of Turkey's fellow NATO members will not be particularly
32:00 happy with this. But Erdogan will say himself that he is merely emphasizing, emphasizing
32:08 trade, the sort of things that Western countries actually do hold dearly. They're targeting
32:15 for $100 billion of trade per year between Moscow and Ankara. And also he said that 5
32:22 million Russian tourists visited Turkey last year. Turkey is already a very big popular
32:29 destination for Russian tourists, but now it's already 7.3 million this year. That has
32:34 a lot to do with the fact that Turkey is one of the few countries they can get into in
32:40 west of Russia where they actually don't need a visa. So it's very much set up for them.
32:45 Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well is also saying, he also mentioned briefly talks in Ukraine,
32:51 said that in times of war, no one wins. And this, he's calling on Russia and Ukraine to
33:00 set down and more or less hash things out. This is not going to be met with any reception
33:06 whatsoever in Kiev. Vladimir Zelensky's government will say that while Russia and Vladimir Putin
33:15 cannot be trusted and that they will do nothing even to fulfill preconditions for these particular
33:24 talks to take place. But Erdogan is casting himself, like Putin, on his side of being
33:30 a calm, rational middleman. And he's probably emboldened by the fact that against many expectations,
33:37 he got reelected fairly comfortably in May. A lot of people had written him off. In fact,
33:42 he was weakened particularly after the earthquake earlier this year. And it is widely speculated
33:50 that Turkey cut off the sort of great trade that was passing through the country from
33:57 mainly from China, but also from other countries such as India towards Russia, largely under
34:03 pressure from the United States in return for aid after that earthquake. So this is
34:10 something that, to tie up Erdogan a few months ago, you probably wouldn't have expected him
34:15 to veer a little bit in this direction. But he's doing something now that he obviously
34:21 feels quite comfortable with. His NATO allies will not be so happy with, but it doesn't
34:25 necessarily mean that he is actually stepping out of line per se either.
34:30 And just a brief final thought, Oliver, if I can. Putin there at the end of the press
34:34 conference saying that the Ukraine counter offensive isn't going very well. I know that
34:39 the message in Kiev this week would be rather different.
34:41 Yeah, both sides are obviously going to paint a better picture of it than they are. What
34:47 we do know is that Ukraine is making some advances. It's not making any particularly
34:53 hugely substantial ones, and it's probably going to take a long time more yet. There'll
34:58 be a lot more entrenched battle and warfare to come. It's certainly going better for Ukraine
35:05 at the moment, but there's really no end in sight of the war this year at least, whatever
35:13 about next year.
35:14 All right, Oliver Fowry, thanks very much.
35:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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