Turkish foreign minister holds talks with Ukrainian, Russian counterparts over phone

ANKARA

The Turkish foreign minister on Wednesday held separate phone talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and discussed tensions between the two countries, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

In his talk with Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, Mevlut Cavusoglu emphasized the importance of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis through peaceful means, and noted that Turkiye is ready to play a mediatory role.

Lavrov, for his part, confirmed that he would participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum II slated for March 11-13 and take part in the foreign ministers’ meeting on Syria in the Astana format.

The Russia-Ukraine tensions were also discussed in the phone call between Cavusoglu and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

Both Lavrov and Kuleba also wished quick recovery to Cavusoglu who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Moscow, according to Ukrainian officials, recently amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Russia has denied it is preparing to invade and accused Western countries of undermining its security through NATO’s expansion towards its borders.

Russia also issued a list of security demands to the West, including a rollback of troop deployments from some ex-Soviet states, and guarantees that some of those states would not join NATO.

In a written response to those demands, Washington said it is committed to upholding NATO's “open door policy,” while NATO also conveyed the alliance's own reply “in parallel with the United States.”