Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder expressed hope on Wednesday that the Ukraine grain export deal will lead to a ceasefire.
Schröder noted that he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week and reminded that Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement to resume fertiliser and grain exports, according to Reuters reporting.
Under the agreement, the first ship carrying grains from Ukraine since the start of the war left the Port of Odessa and reached Turkey on Tuesday, where it is to be inspected later today.
The UN and Turkey brokered the agreement between Moscow and Kiev, with Ukraine hoping to export approximately 20 million tonnes of grain from silos and roughly 40 million tonnes from this year’s harvest.
“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” Schröder stressed and added “a first success is the grain deal… perhaps that can be slowly expanded to a ceasefire.”
Schröder, a friend of Putin and chairman of Russian energy company Gazprom’s shareholder committee, served as Chancellor of Germany in the period between 1998 and 2005. He has previously condemned the war in Ukraine, but not Putin.
Territorial solutions
Schröder noted that the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region is complicated and stressed “a solution based on the Swiss cantonal model will have to be found.”
Switzerland’s 26 cantons are semi-autonomous and have their own constitutions, governments, courts and police.
Schröder expressed hope that solutions to important issues including Crimea will be found “maybe not over 99 years, like Hong Kong, but in the next generation.”
Meanwhile, Moscow has accused the US of direct involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence stressed on Tuesday that Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, confirmed this in a recent interview.
Skibitsky told British Telegraph daily that Ukraine was consulting with the US before launching attacks and added that Washington can veto planned strikes, but stressed that the US was not providing direct targeting information.
“All this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” the Ministry pointed out in a statement.
