Turkey: "Russia-Ukraine Foreign Ministers Meeting to Be Held Within 2 Weeks"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Turkey, which is mediating talks between Russia and Ukraine, announced that "a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held within two weeks."

Mevl?t ?avu?o?lu, Turkey's Foreign Minister, said in a media interview on the 31st local time, "We are working for the second stage," referring to this.

The "second stage" refers to the meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries following the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian negotiation delegations held in Istanbul, Turkey, on the 29th.

Minister ?avu?o?lu said, "If an agreement is reached through negotiations by the working-level delegations, the foreign ministers should meet, and after that, the heads of state of the two countries will meet together," adding, "We are doing what is necessary for the second stage where the foreign ministers meet."

He continued, "Yesterday (the 30th), I sent direct text messages to Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister," and added, "Lavrov said he would go from China to India, and Kuleba replied that if both sides are ready, this time they would like to hold such talks in the West, especially in Ukraine."

Furthermore, he said, "As a mediator, it is impossible to set an exact date for the talks, but they said a high-level meeting could be held within about one to two weeks."

Minister ?avu?o?lu also conveyed the agenda discussed at the Istanbul talks. He said, "There was mutual understanding between the two sides regarding Ukraine's neutralization."

However, he added that Ukraine wants its security to be guaranteed in exchange for accepting neutral status. He also noted that Ukraine's denazification and demilitarization were relatively less discussed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.