Russian President Vladimir Putin touches down in Iran on July 19, 2022

Russia has different views on what approach should be taken to stabilize the situation east of the Euphrates with Turkey and Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. He underlined that the difference stems from Moscow's belief that the territory should be transferred back to Syria's control.

"There are some differences [...] on how to organize and stabilize the situation in the region. It is well-known that joint Russian-Turkish observers are working there. But, in our opinion, this entire territory should be transferred under the control of the official authorities in Damascus [...] to ensure a long-term and sustainable situation there," Putin said.

The Russian president revealed that the handover to the authorities would make it possible "to maintain dialogue with those responsible for this - with the official authorities of Syria," as "it would significantly stabilize the situation there."

Iranian nuclear program

Putin highlighted the importance of understanding Tehran's mood on the Iranian nuclear program to structure further work on the issue.

"There is also our part - the Russian part - in these joint efforts to restore the cooperation between Iran and the [International Atomic Energy Agency]," Putin told journalists after the trilateral summit in Tehran.

The IAEA's Board of Governors adopted in early June a draft resolution submitted by the US and the E3, criticizing Iran for what they claim were incomplete answers given to the IAEA on uranium traces at "undeclared sites". These claims were quickly refuted by the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, who said that Iran has neither secret nor unwritten nuclear activities nor unreported nuclear sites.

Following that report, Iran abandoned all commitments beyond the Safeguards Agreement in response to the IAEA's Board of Governors' adoption of an anti-Iran resolution, an Iranian lawmaker revealed, condemning the resolution passed by the agency.

Iran entered into a nuclear accord in 2015 with a group known as the P5+1, comprised of the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. However, Washington unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the deal under then-President Donald Trump, who accompanied his arbitrary decision with the imposition of harsh sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The parties to the agreement are trying to restore it via talks in Vienna, Austria, which are yet to yield any results.

Restrictions on Russian grain must be waived

The restrictions on the exports of Russian grain must be waived since there Moscow struck an agreement with international organizations that faced no objections, including from the United States, President Putin stressed.

"Initially we put the issue in such a way that it should be a package solution. Specifically, we will be facilitating the exports of Ukrainian grains, but we assume that all the restrictions related to air shipments of Russian grains will be waived," Putin underlined.

He then expressed hope that the restrictions be waived with the aim of improving the situation in the international food markets.

"[T]he restriction on supplies of Russian fertilizers to the world market has been lifted by Americans, de facto lifted. I hope that the same thing will happen to exports of Russian grains if they sincerely wish to improve the situation in the international food markets."

Russia and Ukraine play a vast role in the international arena when it comes to wheat and grain exports. They account for an estimated 30% of global exports of wheat, 20% of maize, and 76% of sunflower.

Various organizations and countries have been calling for curtailing the rising food prices and delivering crops to regions facing acute food crises as soon as possible.

"We are already prepared. We have the export potential of 30 million [tonnes of] grains, and this year it will reach 50 [million tonnes]," Putin reiterated.

Oil restrictions behind soaring prices

The Russian president then went on to underline how ludicrous proposals to further limit exports of oil from Russia, noting that in a situation similar to that of gas, prices will skyrocket.

"It is even surprising that people with higher education are saying this. The result will be the same: prices will rise; oil prices will skyrocket," Putin underlined.

He then blamed the West's policies for the rising fuel prices. "Capital investments in the traditional energy sector have decreased due to earlier political decisions [of the West]. Banks do not finance, insurance companies do not insure, local authorities do not allocate land for new developments, and do not develop pipelines and other means of transportation."

Europe has neglected traditional energy sources and placed a premium on alternative energy sources, causing their prices to rise higher.

"I have said this many times before, and I do not know if I should go into detail about the energy policies of European countries that have neglected the importance of traditional energy and have relied on unconventional energy," the Russian president said.

"They are big specialists in unconventional relations. So they decided to put a premium on unconventional energy in the field of energy - solar and wind energy. It turned out to be a long winter. There was no wind. And that's it."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's words came on the sidelines of a tripartite summit with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian capital, Tehran, to discuss possible settlements in Syria.