Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, sit as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, top left, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, top right, exchange documents during a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, sit as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, top left, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, top right, exchange documents during a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, sit as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, top left, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, top right, exchange documents during a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, sit as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, top left, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, top right, exchange documents during a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), established as part of a landmark deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine, has started work in Istanbul, Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday

The Russian delegation to the JCC will arrive in Turkey today and begin work in a four-way format, alongside Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, the ministry said in a statement posted on social media.

Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal last Friday, brokered by Ankara and the UN, to unblock grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports and ease an international food crisis.

The deal was almost immediately thrown into jeopardy after Russia fired cruise missiles on the port of Odesa, Ukraine's largest, on Saturday morning, just 12 hours after the signing ceremony in Istanbul.

But both Moscow and Kyiv have said they will try to push forward with the agreement - the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict now in its sixth month.

Ukraine and Russia accounted for around a third of global wheat exports before Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

The Russian delegation to the JCC will be headed by rear admiral Eduard Luik, Moscow said.

"The main task of Russian specialists in the JCC will be the prompt resolution of all necessary issues for the initiative to enter the stage of practical implementation," the defense ministry said.

The Kremlin on Monday called for the UN to secure the removal of curbs on Russian fertilizer and grain exports as part of the deal, saying it was still too early to say whether the agreement would be a success.



Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)

Slovenia declared two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, persona non grata on Thursday, the first European Union country to do so, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said.

The government accused Israel's national security minister Ben-Gvir and finance minister Smotrich - both West Bank settlers - of making "genocidal statements" and inciting violence against Palestinians.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel's government which has regularly rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, and says it is acting in self-defense following the deadly October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas gunmen.

Fajon said Slovenia had decided to make the move after EU foreign ministers did not agree on joint action against Israel over charges of human rights violations at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Today, the government adopted one of the first national measures, which is to declare two Israeli ministers... unwanted in the Republic of Slovenia," Fajon told a news conference.

"This kind of measure is the first of its kind in the European Union. We are breaking new ground," she said. Other measures were being prepared, she added, without going into detail.

Slovenia's government issued a statement saying the ministers "publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced evictions of Palestinians, and call for violence against the civilian Palestinian population".

Last year, Slovenia recognized an independent Palestinian state.

In June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, imposed sanctions on the two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians.

Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023 in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies, and 251 people were taken to Gaza and held hostage.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.