"Russian and Ukrainian leaders are not ready for a high-level meeting yet, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his conversation with russian president vladimir putin during the SCO summit in China, on September 2", - reports the Turkish outlet Milliyet.
According to Erdogan, during his meeting with putin he discussed possibilities for a diplomatic settlement of the "Ukrainian conflict". The Turkish leader emphasized that Ankara advocates for gradually raising the level of negotiations and moving toward concrete decisions.
"It is necessary to transform the hope for peace into solution-oriented and concrete results", - Erdogan is quoted as saying.
Erdogan believes that the issue of conflict resolution must be addressed at the leadership level of russia and Ukraine.
The Turkish and russian leaders also discussed the outcomes of the russia–US summit in Alaska. Erdogan stated that he finds the approaches of both putin and Zelensky to this issue positive, but believes that they are not ready for a personal meeting yet.
Russian media also report that during his meeting with Erdogan, putin thanked him for his "significant contribution to the political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis" and noted that Turkey’s assistance would "continue to be in demand".