MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed that Putin will visit Ankara “soon”, Interfax cited a Kremlin adviser as saying on Friday.
Ankara, Moscow Agree on Putin Trip to Turkey
The trip would be Putin’s first to a NATO nation since he ordered troops into Kyiv on February 24, 2022.
“Erdogan and Putin agreed that the trip will be in the near future, but we have not yet discussed regarding a specific day, dates,” Interfax cited Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov as saying.
President Erdogan, re-elected for another five years term, has sought to maintain strong relations with both Russia and Ukraine since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
Turkey has helped to broker prisoner exchanges and, along with the UN, negotiated an agreement in July 2022 to permit for the safe export of grain from ports of Ukraine through the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also lauded the “unprecedented cooperation” between Russia and Turkey, praising Erdogan’s “balanced stance” on the Ukraine war.
