Erdogan to meet with Putin in Russia

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is likely to visit Russia to hold talks with Russian head of state Vladimir Putin. The main topic of the meeting will be the grain deal, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reported on Tuesday.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to meet with Putin in Russia,” the report said. “According to information received from sources close to the president, Erdogan’s visit will be the most important step for the continuation of the grain corridor agreement.”

The publication drew attention to the fact that the chief adviser to the Turkish leader Akif Çağatay Kılıç will visit Ukraine, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit both Kiev and Moscow.

During the summer, Erdogan repeatedly stated that he invited his Russian colleague to visit Turkey in August and hold talks.

Recently, a number of events have taken place, on which Moscow and Ankara may have questions to each other. Turkey extradited to Ukraine the commanders of the Azov battalion (banned in the Russian Federation), who, according to tripartite agreements, were to remain in Istanbul until the end of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, after the extradition of the Azovites, who were taken by the head of the Ukrainian state Vladimir Zelensky on his plane from the Turkish metropolis, called the incident a direct violation of existing agreements. Viktor Bondarev, head of the Federation Council Security Defense Committee, reacted most sharply to the incident, saying that Turkey thus turned from a neutral country into an unfriendly one towards the Russian Federation.

In addition, the Turkish side approved Sweden’s entry into NATO, which also critically contradicts the Russian position. Moscow, in turn, withdrew from the grain deal, despite the persistent persuasion of the Turks.