ANKARA: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkiye’s foreign minister discussed at a meeting in Moscow efforts to end the war in Ukraine and developments since direct talks between the warring parties, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is on a two-day visit to Moscow, where the source said he met Putin on Monday and also Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky. Fidan will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.
While no timetable or location has been agreed for any future talks between Russia and Ukraine, NATO ally Turkiye has repeatedly said it could host them.
Delegates from Moscow and Kyiv met in Istanbul earlier this month for the first time since March 2022, a month after Russia invaded its neighbor. No ceasefire was agreed, but the sides agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war and deliver, in writing, their conditions for a possible ceasefire.
In their meeting, Putin and Fidan discussed “the initiatives carried out recently to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, (and) developments following the negotiations held in Istanbul,” the Turkish source said.
Bilateral economy and energy issues were discussed as well, the source added.
Russia said on Monday that the main topic of the talks would be bilateral relations, but that Ukraine would also be discussed.
Ahead of the meeting, the Turkish source had said Fidan would reiterate Ankara’s offer to host the sides and continue playing a “facilitator” role.
Fidan is also expected to travel to Kyiv later this week to meet Ukrainian officials and follow up on the Istanbul talks.
Russian sources have said they viewed Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman as potentially suitable venues for talks.
Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says
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Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says
Thais, Cambodians fear returning home despite border truce, fearing violence
- On the Cambodian side, 35-year-old So Choeun said she expected to give birth within days and hoped to then take her baby home, about 1 kilometer from the border
BANGKOK: At a Thai university-turned-shelter for displaced people, Kanlaya Somjettana is reluctant to go home even after a truce halted weeks of border clashes with Cambodia, fearing the violence may not be over.
She said some people forced to flee the fighting began returning home on Sunday, a day after the ceasefire was announced, but many evacuees on both sides of the border preferred waiting for an official word that it was safe.
Some cited a lack of trust that the neighboring country would respect the truce, after previous ones had been broken.
“I really hope this ceasefire will last long and we can return home,” 21-year-old homemaker Kanlaya said from the university campus in Thailand’s Surin city.
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Officials on both sides said the day-old ceasefire was holding on Sunday, but for most areas, there has been no all-clear notice just yet.
“But I will not go back home as long as authorities do not confirm that it is safe,” she said, adding that the evacuation center was now less crowded, although hundreds remained there.
On the Cambodian side, 35-year-old So Choeun said she expected to give birth within days and hoped to then take her baby home, about 1 kilometer from the border.
But not yet, said the woman sheltering with family under makeshift tents at a Buddhist pagoda in Banteay Meanchey province.
“Despite the ceasefire, we dare not return home yet. We are still frightened,” she said.
“We will wait to see the situation for a few days, if it will stay calm.”
Officials on both sides said the day-old ceasefire was holding on Sunday, but for most areas, there has been no all-clear notice just yet.
The truce follows three weeks of renewed cross-border fighting that killed at least 47 people and displaced more than a million on both sides.
