Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed to have reached agreements with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to arrange his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
"[Moscow] had a positive response to our invitation to visit Turkey after Mr. Putin returned from China. Now we will decide on the date, then hopefully we want to hold a high-level meeting, to bring Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky together. Our agreement with Mr. Zelensky has been reached in this regard," CNN TÜRK quoted Erdogan as saying on Friday.
Meanwhile, Erdogan paid a visit to Ukraine the day before, where he held talks with Zelensky, during which they discussed Ankara's desire to mediate a settlement in the Donbass. Earlier, Turkish leader spokesman Ibrahim Kalin reported that Erdogan invited Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to "settle differences" between the two countries. The Turkish president has repeatedly stated last year that he wants to participate in resolving the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
The Turkish president said he attaches great importance to upcoming contacts with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and talks on Ukraine because the whole world is watching the topic.
"As we held our meeting between delegations in Ukraine, we should also hold high-level cooperation council meetings, and we will also have a bilateral meeting with Mr. Putin to solve this problem between Russia and Ukraine, there will be an opportunity to do so," CNN TÜRK quoted him as saying Friday in a conversation with Turkish reporters on board after his visit to Kiev. - "Because we have serious bilateral relations with Russia now. The steps to be taken are also important. So I attach great importance to the meeting with Mr. Putin, because the eyes of the world are here now. Many people are asking, "Where will this trouble between Russia and Ukraine lead?"
Reducing tensions
Erdogan expressed hope that "there will be peace and tranquility in the region." "Of course, the most important aspect is Donbass, the events in Donbass, the events on the border. The whole world has directed its eyes to this region at the moment. I hope that peace and calm will be established there, so we continue our fight," the Turkish president added.
The Turkish president said he expects Ankara to be involved in resolving the situation between Russia and Ukraine after meeting with Putin.
"We hope that after our meeting with Mr. Putin, if we are given the role of mediator, we will take part in this work, and I hope we will try to make our contribution. Meanwhile, [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev visited Ukraine, and so did [British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson. We want to compile these visits later and make a corresponding move," he said.
Erdogan believes that Western countries have so far done nothing to reduce tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
"This time I have to say it very clearly. If you pay attention to this process (the tension between Russia and Ukraine - TASS), unfortunately, the West has done nothing so far to resolve this issue. <...> I attach great importance to the meeting with Mr. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin on this issue, because at the meeting with [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky I saw that we already have an agreement on these issues. At the moment there is a serious problem in Europe in terms of solving this issue," he said.
"There used to be [former German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, she could really have the key to solving [this problem]. But there is no such leader left at the moment. If you look at the situation in the US [President Joe] Biden has not yet been able to demonstrate a positive approach to this process. The meetings of the foreign ministers (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken - TASS ) have not yet recorded any progress toward a result. We see this clearly," Erdogan added.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that dates for Putin's possible trip to Turkey have not yet been determined. When asked about the prospects of a meeting in Turkey with the Ukrainian president, Peskov stressed that it was primarily a bilateral visit, which the leaders of Russia and Turkey have been talking about for a long time.
About security guarantees
On December 17 last year, the Russian MFA published Russian draft treaties on security guarantees that Moscow expects from Washington and NATO. The two treaties - with the United States and with members of the alliance - envision, among other things, a refusal to expand NATO eastward, including a refusal to admit Ukraine to its membership, and restrictions on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, in particular nuclear weapons. Several rounds of consultations in various formats have already been held, but no agreements have yet been announced.
On January 26, the United States and NATO sent Russia written responses to the proposals on security guarantees. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary-General of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg listed their main provisions. According to these statements, the West made no concessions in principle for Russia, but outlined directions for further negotiations.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS