MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Ankara may raise the issue of organizing a dialogue between Moscow and the Western countries at a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana on October 12, if Turkey is really interested in this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the 60 Minutes program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Tuesday.
"It is pretty clear to me that if the Turkish counterparts have such thoughts, they will have a great opportunity this week during a meeting between the presidents - Erdogan and Putin - who will be together at the events in Astana, to put such questions to us. Apart from public announcements, we have more heard nothing yet," Lavrov said.
"This is not the first time our partners have announced some initiatives publicly. First, they drawing attention to them, and then they wait and look at who will react and how," he continued. "If the Turkish media is to be believed, it looks like Mr. Erdogan’s idea was examined by the Americans. It seems that the Turks have seen some kind of semi-positive nod in reply".