Turkish media reported today, Tuesday, that a "quartet meeting" comprising representatives of the United Nations, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will be held next week in Turkey in order to organize the export of grain in the Black Sea.

The private television stations "CNN Turk" and "NTV" quoted sources in the Turkish presidency as saying that these talks will be held in Istanbul.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that "difficult negotiations" are underway to lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports, where millions of tons of grain cannot be exported due to the blockade imposed by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.

The United Nations has been negotiating for weeks with Moscow, Kiev and Ankara, which will provide a military guarantee for the use of the Black Sea by civilian ships, to reach an agreement that would allow grain to be taken out of Ukraine and the return of fertilizer produced in Russia to the international market, but the talks have not yet led to an agreement.

Reaching an agreement would reduce food prices and ease the global food crisis, which is exacerbated by the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Kyiv accuses the Russian side of preventing the export of 22 million tons of grain in Ukrainian ports, warning that this will inevitably lead to a global food crisis.

In mid-June, Turkey, through its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, expressed its readiness to host a "quartet meeting", speaking of establishing "safe lines" in the Black Sea "that can be used without removing the mines planted on sea routes."

A week before him, Cavusoglu received his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Ankara, to discuss this issue without reaching a feasible result.