Turkish, Russian leaders meet in Astana to discuss bilateral ties, ongoing war

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kazakhstan.

Erdogan and Putin held closed-door talks after the general debate of the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana.

Addressing the summit, Erdogan said Türkiye's aim is to stop bloodshed in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible despite hurdles.

Türkiye has been in close contact with both Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Erdogan has repeatedly stressed his wish to bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together at the negotiating table in Türkiye to end the war.