Shortly before the meeting between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a presidential adviser in Ankara told Reuters that some of “our friends” do not want the war in Ukraine to end and are crying “crocodile tears.” In addition, he said some were trying to undermine Ankara’s diplomatic efforts without naming which ally they were talking about.

“The truth is that some of our friends do not want the war to end. They are shedding crocodile tears,” Turkish presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun told Reuters. He also said that some are actively trying to undermine Turkey’s efforts, without specifying who.

“The international community cannot end the war in Ukraine by ignoring Russia. Diplomacy and peace must prevail,” he added.

A new meeting between Erdogan and Putin was scheduled for Friday afternoon, the second in less than three weeks after the talks in Tehran. Ukraine and Syria are expected to dominate the negotiations.

The meeting takes place in the context of Ankara’s bragging about the diplomatic success of signing the Istanbul Agreement on the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports to Black Sea ports.

Presidential adviser Fahrettin Altun said the agreement was a sign of the success of efforts by Turkey, a NATO member, and direct diplomacy between the two leaders, criticizing the role of some countries in this context without naming them.

Turkey has relatively good relations with both Ukraine and Russia. But while he criticized the invasion and offered weapons to Ukraine, he distanced himself from Western partners by refusing to impose sanctions on Russia.

“We seek to benefit from Turkey’s relations with Russia and Ukraine to work on a mutually acceptable solution,” Altun said.

Although there is close cooperation with Russia in the supply of energy resources, there has also been military competition in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.

Friday’s talks between Erdogan and Putin may also discuss Turkey’s threat to launch new military operations in Syria to expand 30km “security zones” on the border.