Peskov: Putin has a telephone conversation with Erdogan

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently holding a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This was announced by the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov.

“There is no need to expect a conversation, it is going on now,” he said, answering a question about when to expect a telephone conversation between the leaders of states.

On July 29, Putin told reporters that he had arranged a meeting with Erdogan, while not ruling out the Turkish leader’s visit to Russia. Putin also explained that they tried to talk on the phone, but the time offered by Erdogan did not suit him. And the time proposed by the President of Russia did not suit the Turkish leader. “Well, we agreed to talk, in my opinion, on Wednesday. We will talk there and decide,” Putin said.

Earlier, Erdogan repeatedly stated his desire to talk with his Russian counterpart and discuss, among other things, a grain deal. In the middle of July he pointed outthat Türkiye is preparing for Putin’s visit in August. Erdogan announced plans to discuss with Putin the purchase of several Russian amphibious aircraft to fight forest fires, as well as personally talk with him about the transfer of the commanders of the Ukrainian Azov battalion (recognized as terrorist in Russia and banned) to Kiev.

Last time, Putin and Erdogan met on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana on October 13, 2022. They discussed, among other things, the development of a grain deal and the creation of a gas hub. After that, the leaders of the states conducted only telephone conversations. In particular, on May 29, Putin and Erdogan confirmed by telephone their intention “to continue joint work on the entire current agenda.” The last time they had a telephone conversation was on June 24. Then Putin informed his Turkish counterpart about the situation around an attempted armed rebellion led by the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.