All news

Putin does not rule out paying a visit to Turkey

As Putin explained, his visit on the eve of the elections could be seen as an attempt to influence the domestic political process, so it was decided to postpone it

ST. PETERSBURG, July 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not rule out that he will pay a visit to Turkey. He made it clear while answering a question from a TASS correspondent at a press conference late on Saturday. Another possible variant is that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will come to Russia, he added.

"We agreed that we would see each other, yes, either he would come to us, or I would go to him, we'll see. He invited me even before the [presidential and parliamentary] elections [in Turkey], but then we decided that it was better not to do this so that no one speculates on this topic," the Russian President said.

As Putin explained, his visit on the eve of the elections could be seen as an attempt to influence the domestic political process, so it was decided to postpone it.

"Visits made a week or three weeks before the elections could be considered as some kind of attempt to influence the domestic political process. Neither he nor I need it. So we decided to postpone our meeting. But we still did not agree anywhere - either here or in Turkey. We'll see," the Russian leader added.

Putin also said that he had agreed to have a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday.

"We wanted to talk on the phone, President Erdogan suggested a conversation, but he suggested a time that was not very convenient for me. I suggested [to speak by phone] today - it's not convenient for him, I suggested tomorrow - again inconvenient. Well, we agreed to talk on Wednesday," Putin said, answering a question from TASS.