On Friday, Erdogan said he expected Putin's visit to Turkiye to take place in August. Earlier in the week, Erdogan's office said the two leaders had agreed on Putin's visit to Turkiye during a telephone conversation.
During the meeting in Turkiye, Putin and Erdogan are expected to discuss renewing the grain deal and turning Turkiye into a gas hub, as well as other energy projects, the report said.
In early April, then-Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said Ankara had initiated the process of introducing legislative amendments for the gas hub project, adding that the changes were expected to be approved by Erdogan. He then said that a number of European countries, including Hungary and Serbia, were interested in buying gas through the hub. The purchase and sale of gas through the gas hub is expected to start in 2024, Donmez said.
On July 18, the Turkiye- and UN-mediated Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired, as Russia did not renew its participation in the deal. Moscow emphasized that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled, specifically with regard to reconnecting Russian banks to SWIFT and unblocking the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline.