If Turkey could encourage Kiev to implement the Minsk deal, Moscow would welcome this development, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday commenting on the proposal of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold talks between the Russian and Ukrainian heads of state, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky in Turkey.
"Of course, we welcome the efforts of any country that can iron out the Ukrainian crisis. The main disagreement between Russia and Ukraine is related to Kiev dragging its feet on the implementation of the Minsk accords. If our Turkish partners can influence the Ukrainians and persuade them to fulfill the agreements and commitments [they] previously made, this would be welcome," he maintained.
"The place of these contacts is less important. The main thing is to persuade Ukraine," Peskov stressed.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that Erdogan invited Russian and Ukrainian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky to Turkey ‘to settle disagreements’ between the two countries. He also said that Erdogan "will go to Ukraine in the coming weeks for negotiations with Zelensky."
The Turkish president repeatedly stated last year that he wanted to mediate in settling the crisis between Russia and Ukraine. In the course of telephone talks held in December 2021, Putin pointed out to Erdogan that Kiev continued to pursue a destructive policy aimed at disrupting the Minsk Accords on settling the situation in southeastern Ukraine.
