Reviving Ukraine grain deal 'critical' for food security — Turkey

MOSCOW — Turkey's foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow on Thursday that reviving a deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea was "critical" for food security.

"We underlined its critical role for global food security and stability in the Black Sea," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a joint media appearance with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Fidan was in Moscow to prepare an informal summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi, expected for next week.

Russia pulled out last month from the UN-backed grain agreement that Turkey helped broker.

Both Ukraine and Russia have since laid plans to start shipping grain outside the framework of the deal.

Turkey wants the warring sides to return to the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks.

"I reiterated our belief that revitalising the initiative will restore stability," Fidan said.

Moscow says the previous agreement imposed indirect restrictions on its grain and fertiliser exports by limiting Russia's access to global payment systems and insurance.

Lavrov repeated Russia's longstanding position that it will return to the deal once its demands are met.

Fidan said that Turkey wanted to begin a "process focused on understanding and answering Russia's demands".

The agreement helped Ukraine export more than 30 million tonnes of grain and foodstuffs in the year it remained in effect.

This helped push down global food prices that soared in the wake of Russia's military operation i     n Ukraine and ease levels of hunger in Africa and parts of the Middle East.