Turkey has the right to develop its relations with Ukraine, but Russia hopes that these relations will not be directed against it, the Russian president said on Monday, after Ankara handed over to Kyiv the commanders of the Ukrainian Azov battalion captured by the Russian army, which, according to with a tripartite agreement between these capitals and Moscow, was to remain in Turkey until the end of the war, reports the EFE agency, citing Agerpres.

“Turkey has every right to develop relations with any country, including Ukraine. But, of course, as Turkey’s partners, we hope that the development of these relations will not be directed against us,” Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Peskov said. He called Russian-Turkish relations “very close, developed, multidimensional and mutually beneficial.”

However, added President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, “there are certain topics” on which Moscow and Ankara have not reached an agreement, noting, in particular, the production of Turkish Bayraktar drones in Ukraine and the transfer of command of the Azov battalion to Ukraine, the latest action. considered by Moscow as a “violation of agreements”.

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“We will take this into account before concluding other agreements with Turkey”

“We will discuss this with the Turkish side and have already started doing so,” Peskov noted, adding that Moscow expects an explanation from Ankara regarding its violation of the agreement regarding the Azov command and will “take into account” this situation earlier. conclusion of other possible agreements with Turkey in the future.

Moscow agreed to release these commanders, but on the condition that they remain in Turkey “until the end of the conflict.” But at the end of last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi visited Istanbul, where he met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and there he confirmed that he managed to return the commanders of the Azov battalion to Ukraine.

Later on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, during which he also touched on this topic. “The ministers confirmed the need to preserve and strengthen the trusting nature of relations between Moscow and Ankara based on the principled agreements concluded between the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the presidents of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” the message reads. said after this discussion.

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A total of 215 Ukrainian military personnel, including commanders of Ukrainian defenders who fought at the Azovstal plant and since then remained in Turkey under the personal protection and security guarantees of Turkish President Recep Tayyip, were released from Russian captivity in the course of a prisoner exchange in September of last year. Erdogan.

Zelensky, who returned to the country on Saturday after a visit to Turkey, arrived in Ukraine together with five commanders of the former Mariupol garrison – Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynskyi, Oleg Khomenko and Denys Shlega, who were forced to live in Turkey. until the end of the war, in accordance with the terms of the exchange of prisoners with Russia, agreed last year.

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