Fidan spoke about negotiations with Putin in Ukraine
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday, May 27, completed a two -day visit to Moscow. The Kremlin was originally called the main topic of negotiations between the bilateral relations of Russia and Turkey. However, only a list of interlocutors with whom the Turkish minister met in the Russian capital showed that his main task was to proceed the soil to the possible new round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Reuters’s report that Mr. Fidan will go to Kyiv after Moscow became superfluous confirmation. Meanwhile, the statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, following the meeting with the Turkish colleague, showed: in Russia they have already decided on the platform for the second round of negotiations.
By the end of the first day of Khakan Fidan’s visit to Moscow, there was no doubt in the sensitive nature of those that the Turkish minister came to personally discuss with the Russian leadership. The complete absence of specifics about the content of negotiations, which took place on Monday between Mr. Fidan and several Russian high -ranking persons testified. The press service of the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry of Turkey limited themselves to short comments about the very fact of the meeting of the Turkish Minister, first with the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky, and then President Vladimir Putin, not giving any details.
Shortly after the conversation of Mr. Fidan with Vladimir Medinsky, who headed the Russian delegation at negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 16, agency RIA Novosti With reference to an unnamed source, it reported: the negotiation process was discussed to resolve the conflict. What exactly his aspects were affected by the parties, the interlocutor of the agency did not specify.
At the same time, by the evening of May 26, statements were made from the Turkish side, warning against excessive optimism regarding the contacts of Moscow and Kyiv.
The unnamed representative of the Turkish ruling party of justice and development said “RIA Novosti” that Russia and Ukraine are trying to coordinate positions and find points of contact, but the situation remains complicated. He called the arguments about the second round of negotiations « premature. »
The only statement by which one could judge the content of the negotiations of the Turkish guest with Vladimir Putin was published closer to night by the agency TASS. “The latest initiatives to stop the war between Ukraine and Russia were discussed, the events after the negotiations held in Istanbul on May 16,” the agency quoted the source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Hakan Fidan tore off the cover of secrets from negotiations on the second day of his stay in Moscow. This happened immediately after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. According to the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, he discussed with Vladimir Putin “important”, “sensitive” for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issues, including the negotiation process in Ukraine. “We transferred our request for further meetings in Turkey,” said the diplomat, noting: Ankara is ready to provide all the necessary support on the path to settlement. “Honestly, we consider it our duty,” admitted Mr. Fidan. “This is a mission for our region, for the world around the world.”
In turn, Sergei Lavrov, gratitude to the Turkish colleagues for providing a platform for direct negotiations with Ukraine, anticipated the main question that excited journalists from the moment the Istanbul negotiations were completed. “As for the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, if you ask me, I would again turn to our Turkish friends,” he said. And he did not miss the opportunity to flatter the Turkish colleague by Remarque that « in Istanbul is very good. »
Hakan Fidan, for his part, noted that Russia’s choice of Istanbul indicates a general vision of how regional stability should be ensured. And its presence or absence, as the Turkish minister made it clear, largely depends on the further progress of negotiations in Ukraine.
Sergey Lavrov did not bypass the topic of negotiations, but did not reassure the Turkish colleague.
“The President of Russia has repeatedly repeated recently during his speeches that the success of negotiations would directly depend on whether we can eliminate the root causes of the conflict that he is well known during these negotiations,” he said. Noting that Russia is “interested in all the agreements that have been reached over the past three years in Ukraine,” he said: the “Ukrainian neighbors” cannot be said.
To personally check how in Kyiv the situation is with the mood for the implementation of existing agreements and the conclusion of new ones, the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, according to the Reuters source, will be able to be able to at the end of the current week. Probably, then the contours of the next round of negotiations can be outlined.
