Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported Vladimir Putin's proposal to create a gas hub in the country, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia following a bilateral meeting between the presidents at the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where the Russian leader has also discussed the issues of the emerging new world order with his counterparts.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Russia and Turkey did not discuss Ukraine or the possibility of resuming negotiations. However, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Izvestia, Moscow is open to relevant proposals.
According to Putin, Turkey has turned out to be the most reliable route for gas supplies to Europe. The saboteurs who tried to blow up TurkStream failed, he noted. Now, Russia supplies gas in full, but the volume can still be increased. A future gas hub in Turkey would help regulate the pricing issue without "any political overtones," the Russian leader noted. Erdogan supported this proposal, Peskov told Izvestia on the sidelines of the meeting.
In addition to gas, the leadership of Russia and Turkey discussed continuing cooperation on the grain deal and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
That said, the CICA conference participants focused on economic cooperation in Asia. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed turning the meeting’s financial summit into a permanent platform. Putin has also confirmed the need for closer economic cooperation in Asia.
The expert community, however, expected Putin and Erdogan to discuss the situation in Ukraine. However, they did not touch on this topic openly. Commenting on the possibility of resuming the negotiation process to Izvestia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would be ready to consider appropriate initiatives.
