Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s foreign minister at a meeting in Moscow discussed efforts to end the war in Ukraine and developments since direct talks between the warring parties, Reuters reported, citing a Turkish Foreign Ministry source.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is on a two-day visit to Moscow, where the source said he met with Putin on Monday and also Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky.
While no timetable or location has been agreed for any future talks between Russia and Ukraine, NATO ally Turkey has repeatedly said it could host them.
Delegates from Moscow and Kyiv met in İstanbul earlier this month for the first time since March 2022, a month after Russia invaded its neighbor. No ceasefire was agreed, but the sides did agree to trade 1,000 prisoners of war and deliver, in writing, their conditions for a possible ceasefire.
In their meeting Putin and Fidan discussed “the initiatives carried out recently to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, [and] developments following the negotiations held in Istanbul,” the Turkish source said.
Bilateral economy and energy issues were discussed as well, the source added.
Russia said on Monday that the main topic of the talks would be bilateral relations but that Ukraine would also be discussed.
Ahead of the meeting, the Turkish source had said Fidan would reiterate Ankara’s offer to host the sides and continue playing a “facilitator” role.
Fidan is also expected to travel to Kyiv later this week to meet with Ukrainian officials and follow up on the Istanbul talks.
Russian sources have said they viewed Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman as potentially suitable venues for talks.
Fidan also discussed overcoming outstanding issues related to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant being built by Rosatom in southern Turkey during his talks with Russian President Putin in Moscow.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Fidan added that he had requested Putin’s support for ongoing negotiations between Russia’s Gazprom and Turkish pipeline operator BOTAŞ, in a veiled reference to Turkey’s gas payments to Russia.