Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to leave the country to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on an undisclosed date.
"The president of Turkey has confirmed his invitation to our president to visit Turkey," Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian Interfax. "There are plans, but specific terms have not been discussed yet."
The pair were last together in person in July 2022 in Tehran, Iran, joined by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, for discussions about a potential alliance as a result of galvanization in the West following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
That was Putin's second trip outside the country since the start of the war. His first, in June of last year, was to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to meet with Raisi, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the sixth iteration of the Caspian Summit.
Putin's last time leaving Russia before the invasion of Ukraine was to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Erdogan's narrow reelection victory in May over Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), secured his third five-year term.
The latest victory for Erdogan, 69, is viewed as a net positive for Putin. The Russian president has been unabashedly critical of NATO, of which Turkey is a member, for its defense of Ukraine—as well as providing weaponry and doling out sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Erdogan, following calls with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has reportedly proposed establishing an international commission to investigate the explosion at Ukraine's Kakhovka dam, according to the news organization Middle East Eye. The commission would include Turkey and United Nations members, among others.
NEW: Erdogan proposes to establish an international commission to investigate the explosion at Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam in phone calls with Putin and Zelensky
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) June 7, 2023
• Erdogan says the commission should include Turkey and UN among others
While perhaps not as trusted a confidant as someone like Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko, who has opened his country's borders to Russian military equipment, Erdogan is viewed as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky. The Turkish president supports Ukraine's sovereignty but doesn't feign from his own country's interests.
Putin and Erdogan have a shared interest in economic prosperity, which includes being trading partners. Turkey's role in NATO is not expected to prevent Moscow from continuing to extend billions of dollars worth of credit and gas payment deferrals to Ankara, and it could potentially provide Putin with a way to maneuver around sanctions.
The two presidents don't agree on everything, however, as they support opposing sides in Syria.
