Erdoğan and Putin’s talks last over 4 hours
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have concluded their meeting in the Russian city of Sochi after over four hours of talks.
Source: RBC (RosBiznesConsulting, or Russian Business Consulting) and the Kremlin-aligned Russian news media outlet RIA Novosti (RIA News); the Kremlin’s official website
Details: Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said that the two presidents issued a joint statement following the talks.
The Kremlin’s official website states that Putin said, at the beginning of the meeting, that the presidents would discuss large-scale joint projects between Turkey and Russia, such as the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant or the TurkStream [a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkey - ed.]. Putin noted that the latter supplies Russian gas "not only to Turkish consumers, but also to European ones".
Putin has also raised the question of Ukrainian grain supplies via the Black Sea ports.
He added that he would discuss "questions of regional security, and in particular […] the Syrian crisis" with the Turkish president.
Earlier reports indicated that Putin would be joined by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov during his meeting with Erdoğan. The end of Russia’s war with Ukraine and the possibility of a Turkish offensive in Syria were expected to be the central topics of discussion.
Background:
- On 26 July, Russian and Turkish media reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on 5 August to discuss the war against Ukraine.
- Dmitry Peskov has said that Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, were planning to discuss military and technical cooperation at their meeting in Sochi.
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