MOSCOW

There have been no concrete contacts between Russia and the Vatican so far regarding Pope Francis’ visit to Moscow, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

“The visit at the highest level should be worked out, and preparations should precede. So far, as far as I know, there have been no substantive contacts in this regard,” the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing in Moscow, commenting on the pontiff’s desire to visit Moscow “as soon as possible” after his trip to Canada.

Peskov said that despite great demand, the Russian grain’s entry into global markets faces many obstacles due to the EU’s “illegal sanctions.”

About the talks being carried out with Türkiye’s mediation on creating corridors for the export of Ukraine’s grain, Peskov said the Defense Ministry made a relevant statement about the issue on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said the Russian side had created two humanitarian corridors for the movement of civilian vessels, and that the mine danger in the water of the port of Mariupol had been completely eliminated.

Also on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his intentions to intensify contacts with Russia and Ukraine to create a grain corridor for the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.