Erdogan and Vladimir Putin analyze world situation

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Erdogan and Vladimir Putin analyze world situation
Erdogan and Vladimir Putin analyze world situation

Africa-Press – Angola. The Presidents of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, are meeting today in Astana, on the sidelines of a regional summit in the capital of Kazakhstan, a Turkish official told AFP.

The meeting comes at a time of escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine following Monday’s Russian air strikes on several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev.

Turkey, which has maintained a neutral position since the beginning of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, had already offered to mediate the opening of negotiations between Kiev and Moscow.

Erdogan – who declined to comment on Russian attacks on several cities in Ukraine on Monday that left at least 19 dead and around 100 wounded – said Ankara’s “balanced” approach to the conflict was being appreciated by Westerners.

The Turkish and Russian presidents had already met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan last month.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu maintained telephone contacts with Russian officials on Monday following the latest Russian attacks, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

Cavusoglu said yesterday in an interview with Turkish television that “a ceasefire must be established as soon as possible. The sooner the better”.

“Unfortunately, (the two countries) quickly moved away from diplomacy” since talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in March in Istanbul, Cavusoglu said.

“As the war between Ukraine and Russia drags on, unfortunately, the situation gets worse and more complicated,” he added.

The Turkish minister also called for “a just peace” based on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“There must be a just peace for Ukraine. Where is the war going? It is taking place on Ukrainian soil (…). A process must begin that guarantees the territorial integrity and borders of Ukraine”, he emphasized. the minister.

“Without a ceasefire, it is not possible to talk about these issues in a healthy way: a viable ceasefire and a just peace,” Cavusoglu stressed.

Erdogan is hoping to promote peace talks between Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, which are considered essential by the Turkish authorities.

Although a member of NATO, Turkey has not adhered to Western sanctions against Russia. Erdogan, who is facing a difficult economic situation ahead of elections scheduled for June, wants to maintain and develop trade with Moscow.

However, under pressure from the United States, Ankara announced last month that the last three Turkish banks that still accepted Russian bank cards had decided to end the partnerships.

The decision followed weeks of increasingly urgent warnings from Washington, urging Turkey to limit its economic ties with Russia, or risk sanctions.

Meeting with Joe Biden in Indonesia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that Moscow is willing to “study” the holding of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 in Indonesia.

Lavrov stressed, however, that for the time being there is no formal proposal.

“We have said many times that we do not reject these meetings. If there is a proposal, we will study it”, said the head of Russian diplomacy in an interview with the Rossiya-1 network, in which he clarified that, for now, everything is “speculation”.

Vladimir Putin is on the guest list for the annual meeting of the G20 (the group of the 20 largest economies in the world) that Indonesia will host on the 15th and 16th of November, as is Joe Biden.

The prospect of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of this forum seems distant, given the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and the constant exchange of accusations.

Lavrov insisted that Washington had made “no serious proposal” to talk about the Ukrainian crisis and denied that Moscow could be presented as an “evil” entity that “refuses to negotiate”.

“I tell you they are lies,” he said, quoted by the TASS news agency.

The head of Russian diplomacy also urged the US administration and its “satellites to act with the utmost responsibility” in their statements and not to speculate about a nuclear conflict.

Lavrov’s words came days after Biden spoke of a possible “apocalypse” following what he said were threats from Putin about the potential use of nuclear weapons.

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