Russia-Ukraine Negotiations

The Turkish and Russian leaders are meeting for the second time in less than three weeks. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were meeting on Friday in the southern Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi, for a second face-to-face conversation in less than three weeks against a complex backdrop of dovetailing and competing interests. Aides to the leaders portrayed the talks in Sochi as a continuation of their discussions in Iran on July 19 — some of which included Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader — covering issues like drones, grain shipments, energy and Syria...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would discuss developments in Syria with Russian leader Vladimir Putin during his visit to Russia on Friday. Sitting opposite Putin ahead of their talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi, Erdogan said earlier meetings between Turkish and Russian delegations on politics, economic and trade issues had been fruitful. Their meeting, less than three weeks since they held talks in Tehran, comes after Turkey helped broker a deal to resume Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports which were blocked by Russia's invasion...

Russian President Vladimir Putin opened talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on August 5, the second meeting between the two leaders in less than a month. Ending the war in Ukraine and the prospect of a Turkish incursion in Syria are expected to dominate talks, with Erdogan arriving after his diplomatic success in helping orchestrate a UN-brokered deal to resume Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea. In remarks at the start of the meeting, Putin told Erdogan that he was expecting to sign an agreement to boost trade and economic ties...

A chance for negotiations with Russia is possible only if Ukraine's partners are present at the table... "In case of ‘referendums,’ we won’t be talking of any negotiations. Since there are no talks in place, it makes no sense to assess any negotiating position. But I’d like to tell you that the chance for negotiations with the Russians is possible only if our partners are at the table. Because there is no point in talking with the Russians and ultimately getting some Minsk-3 deal," Reznikov said...

Russia says it has turned down a Swiss offer to represent Ukraine’s interests in Moscow because it no longer considers Switzerland to be a neutral country. Bern and Kyiv on Wednesday agreed on a mandate for Switzerland to represent Ukrainian interests in Russia, which invaded its neighbour in late February. However, on Thursday, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said the plan was not acceptable in the current situation...

Latvia MPs have officially declared Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism" amid the war in Ukraine. The parliament declared its neighbour's actions amount to "genocide against the Ukrainian people", according to a statement published on Thursday. MPs also called on other European countries to "express the same opinion"...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Erdogan, who is in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on a day-long visit, held talks with Zelenskyy at the Potocki Palace. According to the Turkish presidency, the leaders were expected to discuss all aspects of Türkiye-Ukraine relations. The closed-door meeting lasted around two hours...

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Ukraine on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres for talks on the recent deal to resume the embattled country’s grain exports, the volatile situation at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant and efforts to help end the nearly six-month-old war. The gathering marks the first visit to Ukraine by Erdoğan since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 and the second by U.N. Secretary-General Guterres...