Erdogan expects telephone talks with Putin on December 3rd

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 3rd, during which they can discuss the situation in Ukraine. This was announced by the first diplomat of Ankara Mevlut Cavusoglu from Riga, where the meeting of NATO foreign ministers is taking place, TACC reports.

  We are in contact with both countries [Russia and Ukraine] and we are for de-escalation. I recently held talks with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov and [Ukrainian Dmitry] Kuleba. "On Friday, our president expects to hold talks with President Putin," the Turkish minister said in response to a journalist's request to comment on tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Cavusoglu also announced his intention to hold talks with Lavrov and Kuleba on the sidelines of a meeting of the OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers in Stockholm on December 2-3.

  Turkey believes that sanctions against Russia will not "solve the problem" and will not help Ukraine, Cavusoglu stressed. "We believe that sanctions will not solve the problem, it has not solved the problem in the past. We have seen sanctions imposed on a number of countries, sometimes we ourselves have been subject to sanctions, but that does not solve the problems. If, for example, we choose restraint instead of sanctions, it must be purposeful. But we believe in the right balance between restraint and dialogue. So only the imposition of sanctions will not be able to help Ukraine or another country, "the diplomat assured.