Multi-level cooperation relationship between Russia as well as Turkeydespite the conflicting interests of the two countries in its crises Syriaher Libya and his Nagorno-Karabakh, the leaders of the two countries confirmed at a meeting yesterday in Sochi on the Black Sea coast. It was the first visit by the leader of a NATO member country to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began, and the second meeting between the two men in 17 days since the trilateral Iran-Russia-Turkey summit in Tehran.

In his brief speeches to reporters before a one-on-one meeting with Erdogan, Vladimir Putin stated that the main topic of the talks will be the crisis in Syria. Two months ago, Ankara announced a new Turkish army incursion into northern and eastern Syria to push Kurdish fighters out of their controlled areas. At a meeting in Tehran, the Russian president expressed categorical disagreement with such a possibility.

From Sochi, Tayyip Erdogan stressed that “Turkey attaches great importance to its cooperation with Russia in the fight against terrorism” (referring primarily to Kurdish militants) and that his related talks with Putin will be “very important.” However, the Kremlin did not give him the green light yesterday. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Turkey “has legitimate concerns about its security,” but added that it was important to “avoid actions that would destabilize Syria.”

For natural gas

On the table are the purchase of Turkish drones from Russia, the fears of the Americans about circumventing sanctions through Turkey.

The second main topic of yesterday’s discussions was Ukrainian. Fahrettin Altun, Communications Director of the Turkish Presidency, stressed yesterday that “the international community cannot end the war in Ukraine by ignoring Russia” and that “some of our friends (probably the US) do not want to stop the war.” In his speech before the meeting with Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin noted that the Europeans “should thank Turkey” for allowing them to receive Russian gas through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

US media have expressed concern that Russia is buying Turkish drones for its Ukraine campaign and is using Turkey (for example, by buying stakes in its companies) to circumvent Western sanctions in a way that will not be noticed by Washington.

According to Dmitry Peskov, the leaders of the two countries were also going to discuss the alarming situation in Nagorno-Karabakh after the resumption of conflicts between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Turkish media have reported that Erdogan will also bring up for discussion the issue of Russian construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin, over which the two sides have recently been at odds.