Reached an agreement! Putin will visit Türkiye's President "soon" | Türkiye | Putin
According to Reuters, Russian media said that Russian President Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had reached an agreement that Putin would visit Türkiye "soon".
The report points out that this will be Putin's first visit to a NATO member country since the outbreak of the Russian Ukrainian conflict on February 24, 2022. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin rarely visited abroad.
The Interfax news agency quoted Yuri Ushakov, assistant to the Russian President for international affairs, as saying: "The President of Türkiye has issued an invitation to visit. Putin and Erdogan have reached an agreement that the visit will take place in the near future, but we have not yet discussed the specific date."
The report mentioned that Erdogan won another five-year term in Türkiye's presidential election last month. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he has been trying to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
Türkiye refused to join the Western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, but it also provided weapons to Ukraine and called for respect for Ukraine's sovereignty.
According to the report, Türkiye also mediated the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine, and in July 2022, together with the United Nations, brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enabled Ukraine to export grains and other food from Black Sea ports.
The report points out that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March this year, which means that if Putin visits abroad, he is at risk of being arrested. However, Türkiye is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, so Putin will not be in danger of being arrested when he goes to Türkiye.