After cereals deal, Erdogan offers his mediation on the Zaporizhzhya power plant
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday offered his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the mediation of Turkey to help resolve the crisis around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, occupied by Russian troops.
In a telephone conversation between the two men, "Erdogan said that Turkey can play a facilitating role on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, as it did on the grain agreement" in July, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
The Kremlin confirmed a discussion between Putin and Erdogan, indicating that the two leaders had confirmed "their intention to increase their economic and commercial ties", in particular via "joint strategic projects in the field of energy".
The statement from the Turkish presidency does not specify whether Ankara has also formally offered its mediation to Ukraine.
An agreement between Russia and Ukraine
Turkey intends to submit a proposal providing, as it did for the grain agreement, for the creation in Istanbul of an office dedicated to dialogue between international organisations, Russia and Ukraine to find a point of agreement on the issue of technical control and inspections of the plant.
Turkey maintains good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv. While Ankara provided Ukraine with military drones, it refused to join the Western sanctions decreed against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
In July, an agreement between Russia and Ukraine obtained following Turkish mediation allowed the resumption of Ukrainian wheat exports hampered by the maritime blockade imposed by Moscow on kyiv in the Black Sea.
