Ankara is ready to mediate on the situation in Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
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“We are determined to make efforts to ensure stability in our region … We hosted negotiations in our country between the parties to the conflict in Ukraine. We are again ready to assume the function of a mediator,” Erdogan said at a press conference in Sochi following negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Erdogan said at the end of March that the West would have dragged Turkey into a war against Russia if the Turkish leadership had not made appropriate efforts over the past two years. He noted that he intends to play the role of an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine and achieve success in this matter.
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Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for negotiations, but Kyiv has introduced a ban on them at the legislative level. Zelensky previously said that “there will be no Minsk-3.” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that such words “absolutely confirm” Kiev’s position of unwillingness to negotiate. The West constantly calls on the Russian Federation to negotiate, readiness for which Moscow shows, but at the same time, the West ignores Kiev’s constant refusals to negotiate.Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said in an interview that Moscow is ready to consider Kiev’s proposals for a settlement, taking into account the proposals of the Russian side and the situation “on the ground”, but the Ukrainian regime in this not interested.
