While some journalists might be daunted by finding themselves in the same room as the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at least one of Ukrainian provenance is decidedly not. A reporter named Muslim Umerov lobbed at Mr. Lavrov this question at the end of a press conference: “Apart from grain, what other goods did you steal from Ukraine and who did you sell them to?” 

Standing next to Mr. Lavrov during an otherwise heavily stage-managed event at  Ankara yesterday was his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Mr. Lavrov traveled to Turkey with the aim of  discussing how to establish so-called secure corridors for Ukrainian grain exports, which are currently tied up by the Kremlin’s naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. The matter is further complicated by the presence of mines in waters off the shores of key Black Sea ports like Odessa, laid there by Ukraine’s navy as a way to fend off potential Russian attacks from sea. 

Mr. Lavrov, of course, has the top job in Mr. Putin’s foreign ministry for a reason, and he didn’t miss a beat. “You Ukrainians are always worried about what you can steal and you think everyone thinks that way,” he replied. In clear sign of the delusion that has been a hallmark of the Kremlin since it invaded Ukraine, he added: “Our goals there are clear, we want to save people from the pressure of the neo-Nazi regime.”

In the middle of this mess is Turkey, which essentially controls maritime traffic through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. Ukraine’s ambassador to Ankara last week accused Russia of stealing and exporting Ukrainian grain, particularly to Turkey. That is why while Russia and Turkey voiced support on Wednesday for a safe corridor to allow Ukrainian grain exports, Kyiv rejected the proposal, calling it not credible. The European Union, for its part, has accused Moscow of weaponizing food supplies to gain an advantage in the war against Ukraine. 

Mr. Cavusoglu hosted Mr. Lavrov for discussions focused in large part on a United Nations proposal to allow 22 million tons of grain sitting in Ukrainian silos to be shipped out. Tellingly, Ukraine was not invited to the talks.

It was very much present, though — if unofficially — thanks to the chutzpah of Mr. Umerov, who is based in Istanbul, where he works for Ukrainian public television. He told the Agence France-Presse that he had raised his hand during the entire question-and-answer session with Messrs Lavrov and Cavusoglu but realized that the organizers would not let him speak, so he took it upon himself to do so. “I took the risk of disrupting the news conference because all of Ukraine is waiting for the answer to this question,” he explained.

Mr. Lavrov was almost comically on-message, but the exchange did little to resolve the crisis. The sticky matter of mines, for one thing, cannot be underestimated. Russia has demanded that Ukraine remove mines from the Black Sea, and both Moscow and Ankara said the West should ease sanctions on Moscow to allow the export of Russian grains amid an escalating food crisis. 

Food exports are technically exempt from the sanctions, but Russia claims that restrictions on its ships and banks make it impossible to deliver its grain to global markets. Russia has urged Ukraine to remove mines from the area near Odessa and Vladimir Putin pledged that Moscow wouldn’t use the corridors to launch attacks. Of course it was Mr. Putin who also insisted earlier this year that he had no plans to invade Ukraine.

Turkey says it would facilitate and protect the transport of the grain in the Black Sea. The Greek government has also offered the country’s powerful shipping fleet for the task, the AP reported, but Ankara has not made any mention about Athens being part of the possible deal. The Turkish government has recently ramped up rhetoric against neighbors including Greece and Cyprus over historical disputes.

Russia and Turkey want to act in unison — at least on the surface — to set the terms and cement further control over the Black Sea. Turkey has maintained close ties to both Ukraine and Russia, but has arguably moved closer to the Kremlin than to Kyiv. It has criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but hasn’t joined the international sanctions against Russia.

These days, Turkey is one of the few countries that Russian travelers like Mr. Lavrov can actually fly to — just this week he had to halt a trip to Belgrade after a trio of NATO members closed their airspace to the Russian foreign minister’s plane. Turkey of course is a member of NATO too, but it seems that Turkish logic in many matters geopolitical doesn’t fly very far these days.