Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has summoned Vladimir Putin for a crunch meeting tomorrow, in which he is expected to demand he negotiate peace with Ukraine. Speaking to reporters today, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed the two would descend on Kazakhstan for a “very interesting” meeting. He said: “Now many say that the Turks are ready to come up with other initiatives in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.”
“There are reports in the press that the Turkish side is putting forward specific considerations in this regard, I do not exclude that Erdoğan will actively touch on this topic during the Astana contact. So a very interesting and, I hope, useful discussion awaits us.”
The leaders will arrive in the Kazakh capital of Astana on October 13 and speak on the sidelines of the sixth Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit.
Their orbiting meeting may touch on talks between Russia and the west, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously suggested.
Russia and Turkey are two of 11 nations represented in Astana on Thursday for the CICA conference.
Erdogan set to demand Ukraine peace talks as he summons Putin for crunch meeting tomorrow (Image: GETTY)
Erdogan vs Putin: This year’s CICA conference is the sixth
The other nine are Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus and a key Russia ally, will also attend as an “observer”.
And it will include Vice Presidents from Vietnam and China as organisers anticipate “one of the significant post-pandemic foreign policy events in the country and on the continent”.
While CICA will welcome Russia and other western critics, the rest of the world is more boldly rejecting Putin and his regime.
Erdogan vs Putin: Ukraine’s UN representative said Russia has left a “trail of blood” (Image: GETTY)
The United Nations (UN), of which Russia is a member, has publicly rejected a request from Russian officials to hold a secret ballot on recognising Putin’s recent power grab.
On October 10, the UN General Assembly voted to reject calls for 193 members to participate in a secret ballot to determine whether they would condemn the Kremlin’s move to annex four occupied Ukrainian regions.
Instead, 107 delegates voted for a public vote on a draft resolution to condemn Russia’s “illegal so-called referenda” and the “attempted illegal annexation”.
Only 13 countries opposed, while another 39 abstained and the remainder chose not to vote.
Erdogan vs Putin: Russia attempted to call a secret ballot at the UN (Image: GETTY
Russia and China were among the nations represented on the council that did not cast a ballot.
Officials have planned to hold the vote on either October 12 or 13, when Putin and Mr Erdogan plan to meet.
While rejecting the request, several delegates made statements in support of Ukraine.
Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State for defence, described Russia’s actions as “completely unacceptable” in a brief statement.
