Putin open to any contacts on ‘Ukrainian problem’: Kremlin

The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin remains open to any talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict.

The announcement on Friday came on the eve of African leaders meeting to present a new peace initiative to Putin, almost 16 months after the launch of military conflict in Ukraine.

"President Putin was and is open to any contacts to discuss possible scenarios for solving the Ukrainian problem," Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Russia has long said it is open to talks but says Ukraine must recognize "new realities" on the ground, where its forces control about 18 percent of Ukraine's territory.

Last fall, Moscow annexed four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

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Ukraine says its peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory, should be the basis for any settlement of the war.

The African delegation was scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday before meeting Putin in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

Putin set to meet Erdogan in Turkey

Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed that the Russian leader will visit Turkey soon, Interfax reported on Friday, citing a Kremlin aide.

It is Putin's first visit to a NATO country since the start of military conflicts in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

"There is an invitation from the Turkish president. Putin and Erdogan agreed that the meeting will take place in the near future, but we are still talking about a specific day and a specific date," Interfax quoted Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov as saying.

Erdogan, who was re-elected last month for another five-year term, has sought to maintain strong ties with Moscow and Kiev since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

Turkey has refused to join its Western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, but has also sent weapons to Ukraine and demanded respect for its sovereignty.

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Ankara has also helped broker prisoner exchanges and, with the United Nations, brokered an agreement in July 2022 for safe exports of grain from Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges in Ukraine, meaning he could risk arrest if he travels abroad. However, Ankara is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

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