Putin’s imminent visit has been confirmed by Ankara, without specifying a date

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey in the coming days, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said without specifying a date. “Mr. Putin’s visit was planned. It should have happened earlier. This visit will give us an opportunity to answer many questions.” He announced on public channel TRT Haber.

The media cited the date as February 12, but the Turkish president, questioned several times by AFP, refused to confirm or specify where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to meet his Russian counterpart.

“Regular” meetings

Turkey, which will be the first NATO member country that Mr Putin will visit since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, approved last month, after twenty months of suspense, Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic alliance. “Our presidents meet regularly”, recalled Mr. Fidan. Their last tête-à-tête took place in September 2023 in Sochi, Mr Putin’s vacation residence, but the two leaders have spoken frequently by telephone since then.

Since the start of the war, Mr. Erdogan has managed to manage his relations with both Ukraine and Russia. Turkey helps Moscow avoid Western sanctions, which it has not joined, by continuing to trade with Russia.

“A lot of questions will be on the table.”Estimated Mr. Fidan, who significantly mentioned energy, the situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, the “grain corridor” in the Black Sea, which allowed the safe export of Ukrainian agricultural products and which Moscow ended a year later. , in the summer of 2023.

Syria will also be on the agenda, Turkish minister slips: Despite agreement on numerous international issues, Moscow and Ankara disagree over the presence of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and their allies in northeastern Syria.

In 2019, an agreement between Ankara and Moscow ended Turkey’s offensive on a promise to create a 30 km “security zone” to protect Turkey from attacks coming from Syrian territory. Turkey criticizes Russia for not honoring these agreements.