Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Russia on Monday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Turkish Anadolu news agency has reported.
According to the agency, during the visit, the Turkish foreign minister will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and will also hold a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
He intends, among other things, to emphasise Turkey’s commitment to “achieving a just and lasting peace in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, expressing satisfaction with the recent progress in this process”.
Fidan is also expected to hold talks with other Russian officials, including Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, the visit will last 26-27 May.
On the basis of the talks held in Istanbul on 16 May, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange prisoners in the thousand-by-thousand format. Currently, 697 people have returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity within two stages of this exchange.
Both sides sat down at the negotiating table for the first time in three years. Ukraine demanded a 30-day ceasefire. However, the Russian side has still not renounced its territorial encroachments – Moscow calls recognition of its sovereignty over four Ukrainian regions, none of which its forces fully control, a condition for starting discussions on a ceasefire.