Erdogan announced his intentions to Putin: Russia has spoken out

Erdogan announced his intentions to Putin: Russia has spoken out

In a telephone conversation, Putin and Erdogan discussed various aspects of the situation in Donbas and agreed to continue contacts.

Guterres met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the President of Russia in Moscow on Tuesday. The previous day, he also met with the Turkish leader, and on Wednesday he visited Warsaw and then headed to Kyiv.

Erdogan emphasized that Ankara intends to continue its mediation efforts, aimed at resolving the crisis in the relations between Moscow and Kyiv.

"President Erdogan emphasized that Ankara intends to resolutely and sincerely continue its efforts to resolve this crisis between the two neighbors and to establish peace," the Turkish president's office said.

Erdogan reportedly told Putin that he intended to contribute to the continuation of the negotiation process between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul.

"Saying that Turkey is ready to take the initiative to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict and act as a mediator on the path to peace, President Erdogan said he wanted to establish lasting peace in the region as soon as possible, by strengthening the momentum created during the Istanbul process", the statement said.

Russia launched a military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine on February 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia's goal was "to protect people over whom the Kyiv regime committed genocide and abused them for eight years."

Russian-Ukrainian negotiations began in late February. The delegations met twice in Belarus, after which it was decided to continue daily negotiations via video conferences.

In late March, delegations held a new round of talks in Istanbul. The head of the Russian delegation, the assistant to the Russian President Vladimir Medinsky, announced that Ukraine had submitted its written proposals for the future agreement, and that this was the first time in many years that Kyiv had shown a desire to reach an agreement.

The Russian side responded to that gesture of Ukraine by deciding to significantly reduce the fighting in the direction of Kyiv and Chernigov.

Moscow also proposed that the meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, be held at the same time as the foreign ministers of the two countries will sign the agreement.