Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called to end the war in Ukraine “as soon as possible”, shortly before a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“We are working to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine as quickly as possible through diplomatic means,” declared the Turkish head of state before the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. in the presence in particular of Putin.
According to the official program, the two leaders are to meet at 1:30 p.m. (Belgian time) on the sidelines of the summit.
The Turkish and Russian presidents had already met face to face in early August in Sochi (Russia) on the Black Sea. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Erdogan has maintained relations with Kyiv and Moscow, whose representatives he has brought together twice.
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However, while providing combat drones to Kyiv, it has multiplied in recent months conciliatory gestures towards Moscow, particularly in terms of trade. In August, the two leaders had agreed to deliveries of Russian gas to Turkey payable in rubles.
