ISTANBUL—Turkey’s defense chief unveiled a new control center where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and United Nations officials are set to monitor exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea under an agreement reached last week, and signaled Turkey’s intent to make sure that shipments start moving.
The grain export deal, which could free millions of tons of grain needed to alleviate a global food crisis, is clouded by uncertainty after Russia launched a missile attack on the port of Odessa, one of the key grain-exporting ports covered under the agreement.
Many Ukrainians, including senior government officials, say they don’t trust Russia to uphold its end of the agreement and allow safe passage of grain shipments through the Black Sea and out through the Bosporus. But officials say they are pushing ahead with preparations for ships to begin sailing from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports as Turkey gets the monitoring site up and running.
“This center has a meaning for the whole world, and this center will work for humanitarian purposes,” Turkish Defense Minister
Hulusi Akar
said at the facility on Wednesday.
The deal calls on both Ukraine and Russia not to attack ships exporting grain from Odessa and two other Black Sea ports. Ukrainian pilots are set to guide commercial ships carrying grain and other foodstuffs through the mine fields around the ports and out into the Black Sea.
At the center in Istanbul, which spans the Bosporus, military officials from all three countries, along with the U.N., are set to oversee the exports and resolve any problems that may arise, including attacks on the ships.
Inside the center, located inside the National Defense University in Istanbul, a square table was set up with computer workstations, with one side of the table designated for each participant in the agreement, marked by Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and U.N. flags. On one wall a large screen displayed a map of the Black Sea.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, ‘This center has a meaning for the whole world.’
Photo:
UMIT BEKTAS/REUTERS
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