Putin and Turkey's top diplomat hold crucial talks on Ukraine war
Regarding news from Russia, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Vladimir Putin. After the conversation, he assessed the current state of Russian-Turkish relations.
8:11 AM EDT, June 12, 2024
On Tuesday, the head of Turkish diplomacy participated as a guest in the meeting of leaders from the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in Nizhny Novgorod. Turkey is considering joining this organization.
Putin then received him. The Turkish news agency Anatolia, citing diplomatic sources, later reported that during the meeting with the Russian leader, Fidan assessed that relations between Turkey and Russia "are very well."
The topic of the war in Ukraine was also discussed during the conversation. The head of Turkish diplomacy assured that his country is "determined to continue all possible mediation efforts" regarding Ukraine.
The minister reiterated the proposal made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The politician announced in March that he is ready to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia.
It is not known precisely how the Russian leader responded. Media reports only state that Putin "expressed hope to meet with the Turkish President." The leaders are expected to meet in July at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana.
The Erdogan-Putin meeting was supposed to take place in the spring. However, the meeting was ultimately canceled due to scheduling conflicts. The Kremlin explained this by the inability to synchronize the schedules of both leaders.
During his visit to Russia, the head of Turkish diplomacy also met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. According to Reuters, the talks concerned "economic matters important to Turkey" and the war between Israel and Hamas.
Ankara maintains relations with Moscow. The West is outraged
Turkey did not sever relations with Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine. The start of a full-scale war led to the freezing of Russia's relations with the West. Meanwhile, Turkey maintains diplomatic and trade, tourism, and energy relations with Russia.
At the same time, Ankara consistently declares that it remains a committed NATO member and aspires to join the European Union.
However, Turkey has not joined the EU sanctions against Russia imposed for the war against Ukraine, although it has opposed the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity since the beginning of the invasion.
