Russia: Türkiye important political partner, friendly country

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitriy Peskov has described Türkiye as an important political partner and a friendly country for Moscow.

Türkiye has not joined the Western anti-Russian sanctions and is actually pursuing a sovereign, independent foreign policy, Peskov told Izvestia on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"Of course, Türkiye is a friendly country for us, Türkiye is a very important partner for us, both in political matters from the point of view of international politics and in terms of trade and economic cooperation," Peskov said.

The Kremlin representative also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin highly appreciated Türkiye's mediation efforts in various situations, including on the grain issue in Ukraine.

Peskov also commented on Türkiye's initiative to organise talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"As for Putin's meeting with Zelenskyy, nothing will change here. No one needs a meeting for the sake of a meeting. In order for such a meeting to take place, the very idea of such a meeting could be on the agenda, work needs to be done and we need to build the foundation of those agreements that can be fixed at the highest level. There is no talk about this yet," Peskov concluded.