(Reuters) – Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, quoted by Russian news agencies, said on Tuesday he hoped to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan next month at a regional meeting in Kazakhstan.
“I hope that very soon, on the 3rd or 4th of July, he will be in Astana as far as I know,” Putin told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, referring to the capital of the former Soviet state.
“This is part of an international event, and he and I will have an opportunity to meet and discuss all current issues.”
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a regional grouping of nations and Turkey often takes part in meetings as a “dialogue partner”.
Erdogan has sought to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine and act as an intermediary amid the more than two-year-old conflict pitting the two neighbours against each other.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Sandra Maler)
