Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone conversations with the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which they discussed the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine and the creation of a regional gas hub in Turkey, the Kremlin reports.
“On both sides, the mood was confirmed by the further integrated development of Russian-Turkish cooperation. Among the priorities are interaction in the field of energy, including Russian natural gas supply and the creation of a regional gas” hub ‘in Turkey,- the Kremlin website reports.
During the conversation, the parties also discussed the situation in Ukraine. It was also about the exchange of prisoners, primarily wounded. At the same time, Vladimir Putin condemned the “destructive line” of the Ukrainian authorities, affecting the topic of building Western supplies of weapons and military equipment to Kyiv. The Russian president also called a hypocrisy of Ukraine’s refusal from the Christmas ceasefire. “An example of the hypocritical policy of Kyiv was the rejection of the proposal to cease fire for the period of Orthodox Christmas,” it was said.
Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the implementation of a grain transaction and the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations. Thus, the heads of state considered the initiative of the Turkish side to launch consultations with the participation of representatives of Russia, Turkey and Syria.