In Istanbul on Friday Ukraine signed an agreement to resume grain exports disrupted by Moscow's invasion. but only with Turkey and the UN, excluding any direct deal with Russia.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov each signed separate but identical agreements with UN and Turkish officials on reopening blocked Black Sea delivery routes.
Ukrainian officials said they did not want to put their name on the same document as the Russians because of the five-month war.
"Ukraine does not sign any documents with Russia. We will sign an agreement with Turkey and the UN," presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak wrote on Twitter, adding that Russia would be signing a separate "mirror" agreement.
He vowed a Ukrainian "military response" to any "provocations" from Russia and said Moscow's ships and representatives would not be allowed in Ukrainian ports used for grain exports.
Earlier, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry had said that Ukraine would "support only those decisions that will guarantee the security of the southern regions of Ukraine," as wel as positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Black Sea.
The deal has been in the works for weeks now, and was last discussed during a trilateral summit in Tehran between Iran, Russia and Turkey, which was to host Friday's signing ceremony.
U.N. Secretary-General Guterres and Turkish President Erdogan are due to oversee a deal that will allow Ukraine to resume its grain shipments and Russia to export grain and fertilizers. The agreement would end a standoff that has hit world food security. https://t.co/nwdn52YY6I
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 22, 2022
These are some of the main points expected to have been included in the deal:
Joint command and control
A joint command and control centre will be set up in Istanbul to oversee smooth operations and resolve disputes.
Participants will include the two warring sides and officials from Turkey and the United Nations.
Western officials believe the centre will take three to four weeks to set up. This means grain exports might remain slow until the second half of August.
The control centre's location in Istanbul is both a nod to Turkey's strategic location and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's key role in resolving the dispute.
Inspections
Ship inspections remained one of the most complex and politically charged parts of the agreement.
Mines have been laid in areas around Ukraine's main Black Sea ports with the aim of averting a feared Russian amphibious assault.
Ukraine refuses to allow Russian officials to board its vessels to check for the possible delivery of weapons when the ships return to port.
Western officials said the four sides agreed that ship inspections -- demanded by Russia -- would be too difficult to conduct in the open seas.
The four parties would instead oversee them at one of the Turkish ports on their way back to Ukraine -- most likely Istanbul.
It is still not clear precisely who will be allowed to board the Ukrainian ships.
Safe passage
Officials say it was quickly decided that de-mining the area would take too long to relieve the threat of starvation spreading to some of the poorest parts of the world.
Western officials say the deal ensures that Ukrainians pilot their own ships along safe routes or "corridors" that avoid known mine fields.
Ukrainian vessels will lead the grain ships into and out of Ukrainian territorial waters.
Both sides also pledged not to attack ships on the way in or out.
This point has also been contentious: Ukraine has warned that it does not trust Russian promises because these have been broken repeatedly throughout the war.
Russian grain
The agreement threatened to unravel when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this week that he also expected his own country's grain to be covered by the deal.
Russia has been beset by waves of sanctions on its shipping companies as well as on agricultural products such as fertiliser.
The US Treasury last week issued a clarification saying Russian fertiliser and "agricultural commodities" were not subject to trade restrictions.
And in an earlier statement on 24 June, the EU said that "agricultural products in Russia are not targeted by EU sanctions."
The UN and Russia are due to sign a separate memorandum of understanding in Istanbul guaranteeing that grain and fertiliser cannot be directly or indirectly affected by sanctions.
120 days
The deal is due to be signed at Istanbul's lavish Dolmabahce Palace in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The warring sides are expected to be represented by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine's Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The agreement is valid for 120 days and may be automatically renewed without further negotiations.
It covers Ukraine's Black Sea ports in Odessa and two neighbouring locations.
Officials believe 120 days should be sufficient to clear a backlog of up to 25 million tonnes of wheat and other grain stuck in Ukrainian ports.
(With agencies)
