Turkey offers to host possible Ukraine-Russia talks

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ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday it was ready to host possible talks between Ukraine and Russia and would support any initiative leading to peace, following a visit to Ankara by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

NATO-member Turkey hosted initial talks between the sides months after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, helping secure a deal for the safe passage of grain exports in the Black Sea.

Speaking alongside Lavrov on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara valued a U.S. initiative for peace as a “result-oriented” approach, but repeated that both sides must participate for a solution.

“In that framework, we are ready to contribute all forms of support for peace to be achieved through talks. We are ready to host these talks as we have done before,” Fidan said.

While he did not repeat Ankara’s long-held stance supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan did so in a separate video message marking the anniversary.

Asked about the security guarantees Ukraine has demanded from the United States and Western partners for ending the war, Fidan said Ankara was “ready to take any step contributing to peace in principle.”

Lavrov said Russia’s position on the conditions needed to end war had not changed and that scrapping Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership was non-negotiable. He later met Erdogan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Turkey for talks with Erdogan last week, on the same day U.S. and Russian representatives met for talks aimed at ending the war in Riyadh without Kyiv’s participation.

Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he saw Turkey as an important security guarantor for Ukraine.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Christina Fincher)