ANKARA, Mar 28 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, yesterday agreed to hold the next round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Turkey’s Istanbul, the Turkish presidency said.
The two leaders had a phone conversation yesterday, and discussed the latest situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the negotiation process, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
The two leaders “agreed that the next meeting of the negotiation teams of Russia and Ukraine will be held in Istanbul,” the statement said.
During the conversation, Erdogan told Putin that a ceasefire and peace between Russia and Ukraine must be achieved as soon as possible, and the humanitarian situation in the region should be improved, adding, Turkey would continue to “contribute in every possible way during this process.”
Earlier yesterday, David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said, the next round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place next week in Turkey.
“Today (yesterday), at the video talks, it was decided to hold the next live round by the two delegations in Turkey on Mar 28-30,” Arakhamia wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, head of Russia’s negotiation team, Vladimir Medinsky said, the face-to-face talks will take place on Mar 29-30.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations have held three rounds of peace talks in-person in Belarus, since Feb 28, and the fourth one started on Mar 14, in a format of video conference.
Previously, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, met in a resort town of Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, on Mar 10.
The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, was the first high-level talks between Moscow and Kiev, since Russia launched the military operation in Ukraine on Feb 24.
During the meeting, the two sides failed to make progress on a ceasefire, but agreed to continue negotiations over the conflict.– NNN-ANADOLU
