Erdogan is expected to meet with Putin in Astana

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will meet with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday, October 12.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of a regional summit to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, a Turkish official told.

Turkey, which has remained neutral throughout the conflict in Ukraine, has good relations with Russia and Ukraine.

Erdogan has yet to condemn the massive airstrikes that hit cities across Ukraine on October 10.

These attacks killed at least 19 people and injured over 100 others.

However, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, held a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, after the attacks, but there are no details of this conversation.

Erdogan met Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit held in Uzbekistan last month.

He still hopes he can bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky together in peace talks.

Turkey insists that peace talks are essential and the likelihood of them being held is real.

Turkey, which is a member of NATO, has not joined the sanctions that the West has imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.

Erdogan is also committed to increasing trade with Moscow as he seeks to stabilize Turkey’s economy before running for re-election in June.

Last month, Ankara faced pressure from the United States and confirmed that the last three banks still providing banking services to Russians would stop the practice.