Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia is ready to hold a new round of peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey, possibly in Istanbul, although the Russian leader did not give details on the place or date of these new contacts, on which Ukraine has not yet commented.
In statements made from Minsk and reported by several agencies, Putin stressed that there are still major differences between the two countries with respect to the demands made in the peace proposals presented in the negotiations held so far in Turkey, although he expressed his confidence that new talks between representatives of Moscow and Kiev could help to reduce these differences.
The Russian president also assured that negotiators from both sides are in constant contact, and said that Russia is ready to return to Ukraine the bodies of another 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat. In this regard, the Kremlin chief noted that the date for a third round of contacts between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey will be set once the prisoner exchange agreed in Istanbul on 2 June – during the second round of talks between the warring sides – is completed.
“In general, we are ready (for a new round of negotiations), we need to agree on the place and time. I hope that the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Erdoğan, will continue his stance of supporting this process. We are very grateful to him for this“, Putin stressed.
Turkey has maintained good political and economic relations with Russia and Ukraine since before the war, and has played a vital role in the mediation process in the conflict, previously achieving milestones such as the famous grain deal. Just this Friday, Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat attended the 19th Turkish-Russian Intergovernmental Joint Economic Commission in Moscow, where he highlighted the role of Turkey and Russia as neighbouring countries in the Eurasian region and as regional and global powers, and recalled that both Erdoğan and Putin are committed to strengthening bilateral relations and reaching the goal of a trade volume between the two countries of 100 billion dollars.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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