Erdogan and Putin allege Boris Johnson derailed Russia-Ukraine peace talks in 2022

Erdogan's comments came in response to Putin's candid interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, as reported by Nordic Monitor. Putin reiterated that Johnson had stymied peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul 2022.

The Russian leader portrayed Johnson as having persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky against inking the agreement, advocating instead to "fight with Russia," as per the Nordic Monitor. Putin's comment, contextualized to Zelensky, was also cited by the British newspaper, "The Independent": "He put his signature, and then himself said: 'We were ready to sign it and the war would have ended long ago.' However, Prime Minister Johnson came to pull us [Ukraine] out of it, and we lost that chance," Putin claims.

Boris Johnson, in a "The Times" interview in January, categorically refuted Moscow's allegations, denouncing them as "total nonsense" and "Russian propaganda," according to "The Independent."

Erdogan referred to the failed 2022 peace negotiations led by Turkey. "Frankly, President Putin's comments appear remarkably candid. Throughout what we can call the Istanbul process, we took all possible sincere steps. We worked determinedly to achieve results. However, unfortunately, we could not accomplish peace," Erdogan said to pro-government journalists on Wednesday.

"Before Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, withdrew his support for peace efforts, we collaborated and persisted in our efforts, but were unsuccessful," the Turkish leader quoted by Nordic Monitor stated. Erdogan expressed optimism about initiating future peace talks, remarking that the process should be free of external interferences.

"Recently, the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, visited us, and we discussed these issues with him. Suppose President Putin engages directly in dialogue with us during this process or the appropriate Russian ministers intervene. In that case, we will collaborate with them to navigate this process and achieve the desired results," the Turkish leader added.

Source: Nordic Monitor, The Independent