ISTANBUL,
Turkey — The
foreign ministers of
Ukraine,
Russia, and
Turkey will meet in southern Turkey
on Thursday, Ankara has announced as the war in Ukraine intensifies.
اضافة اعلان
Turkey has sought to mediate between Russia
and Ukraine and offered on several occasions to host talks at leaders’ level or
technical discussions.
“God willing, we will hold this meeting at a
trilateral format in Antalya on Thursday” on the sidelines of a diplomatic
forum in Turkey,
Ankara’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday in
comments published in the official Anadolu news agency.
The announcement of the meeting comes after
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian
counterparts.
“Upon President
@RTErdogan’s initiatives and
our intensive diplomatic efforts, Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and
Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine have decided to meet with my participation on the
margins of
@AntalyaDF,” Cavusoglu tweeted.
“Hope this step will lead to peace and
stability,” he commented.
Moscow also confirmed on Monday that Lavrov
would meet with Kuleba and Cavusoglu.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova
told Russia’s TASS news agency that an agreement for the three-way meeting was
reached during a telephone conversation between Putin and Erdogan at the weekend.
That would be the first outside gathering
attended by Lavrov since the beginning of the war with Ukraine as Russia is
increasingly isolated by the Western world.
Ukraine foreign ministry spokesman Oleg
Nikolenko told AFP that “the possibility of such a meeting is being
considered”.
Turkey is conducting a delicate balancing
act. It is a member of
NATO and a traditional ally of Ukraine. But it seeks to
maintain good relations with Russia, on which it depends heavily for imports.
Ankara has not closed its airspace to Russia
and has shied away from sanctions on Moscow.
It however said it was blocking warships
from the key Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in line with a convention that
gives it control over the passage of military vessels in the strategic area.
Erdogan appealed for an urgent general
ceasefire in Ukraine when he spoke on Sunday to
Putin by telephone, his office
said.
He urged Putin to allow the creation of “urgent”
humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, saying he and the Russian leader could “open
the way of peace together”.
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