Crimean official: Erdogan simply playing along to Poroshenko

A senior Republic of Crimea official has dismissed the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement supporting ‘the territorial integrity of Ukraine’.

 He described it as a manifestation of ‘political flexibility’ and noting that it cannot affect Crimea’s current status.

"A demand for this was demonstrated primarily by [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko. Erdogan was simply playing along,” Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean government Georgiy Muradov said.

"We can see from Erdoğan’s other trips and meetings that he is not very fond of making such statements on his own initiative. He simply needed to keep afloat what is left of relations between Turkey and Ukraine," RT cited Muradov as saying.

The comment came on Monday during President Erdoğan’s official visit to Kiev, when he said that Turkey will continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.