The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), established as part of a historic agreement to resume grain exports from Ukraine, has begun work in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday (26).

The Russian delegation to the JCC arrived in Turkey and began working in a four-way format alongside Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations (UN), the Russian government said in a statement posted on social media. Russia and Ukraine signed a historic agreement last Friday (22), brokered by Ankara and the UN. The goal of the hit is to unlock grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports and thereby alleviate an international food crisis.

Agreement on grains put at risk

The agreement was almost immediately put at risk after Russia fired cruise missiles at the port of Odessa, Ukraine's largest, on Saturday morning (23), just 12 hours after the signing ceremony in Istanbul. But both Moscow and Kiev have said they will try to move forward with the agreement -- the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict now in its sixth month.

Ukraine and Russia accounted for about a third of global wheat exports before the Russian invasion on February 24. The Russian delegation to the JCC will be headed by Rear Admiral Eduard Luik, Moscow said. "The main task of russian experts in the JCC will be to promptly resolve all the issues necessary for the initiative to enter the practical implementation phase," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The Kremlin asked on Monday (25) that the UN ensure the removal of restrictions on Russian exports of fertilizers and grains as part of the agreement, saying it is still too early to say whether the agreement will be a success.

Source: Canal Rural