Erdogan To Discuss Turkey's Mediation On The Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan/PHOTO via Instagram @rterdogan

JAKARTA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss initiatives to continue talks on resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a cabinet meeting on Monday, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the conflict was now nearing the stage of suspension and the new rounds of negotiations were not ruled out.

"The Ukrainian conflict and Ankara's mediation initiative for its settlement will be included in the cabinet meeting agenda today with President [Recep] Tayyip Erdogan," the source said.

On November 11, The Times reported on the suspension of Russian-Ukraine talks. The report comes after the British newspaper interviewed Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, who took part in negotiations in Istanbul.

Responding to the statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine had violated its "final promise" to exchange detainees by exchanging less than 30 percent of the 1,200 people it had agreed upon.

Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of direct talks in Istanbul, which resulted in a prisoner swap. Russia also handed over the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. The two sides also exchanged a draft memorandum regarding conflict resolution.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed Russia was ready to discuss the political aspects of the settlement with Ukraine.

However, Russia has yet to accept a response from Ukraine on the proposed formation of three working groups to deal more specifically with humanitarian, military and political issues, which Russia proposed in the third round of talks in Istanbul in July.

In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to come to Moscow for talks.