Erdogan: Putin and Zelenskyy not ready for face-to-face talks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is prepared for direct talks at this stage, Reuters reported.
Erdogan made the comments on Sept. 1 after meeting Putin in China and speaking with Zelenskyy by phone. He noted that while earlier negotiations in Istanbul show a path to peace, conditions for a leaders’ summit “have not yet been created.” Still, Turkiye supports “gradually raising the level of negotiations,” Erdogan added, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The U.S. has sought to broker direct talks. After his Aug. 15 summit with Putin in Alaska, President Donald Trump said he was working toward a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting. Zelenskyy later told reporters that Kyiv is ready for unconditional high-level negotiations, urging Washington to increase pressure if Moscow refuses.
Russian officials remain skeptical. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Aug. 22 that a meeting was “not ready at all,” accusing Ukraine of rejecting conditions and questioning Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.
A source in Ukraine’s Presidential Office told that a face-to-face summit is unlikely unless the U.S. increases its leverage on Putin. Trump suggested on Aug. 25 that the Russian leader avoids talks simply because “he doesn’t like him.”
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