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Zelensky’s refusal to hold talks with Putin to aggravate Ukrainian crisis — expert

Huseyin Bagci doubts Zelensky made the decision to refuse to negotiate with Putin entirely on his own

ANKARA, October 5. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's refusal to negotiate with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin is stalling Turkey's efforts for resolving the Ukrainian crisis peacefully, which is fraught with a drastic escalation of the conflict, the director of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute, Huseyin Bagci, told TASS on Wednesday.

"By making this decision the Ukrainian president actually blocked the path for a dialogue and made it impossible for Turkey to continue mediating efforts for resolving the conflict in the foreseeable future. This is a deadlock situation. The negotiations are blocked. Conducting them further requires willpower, but judging by the statements being made, this is not the case now. The situation may get worse," Bagci said.

He recalled that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously repeatedly offered his country as a platform for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin. In his last telephone conversation with the Russian leader on September 29 Erdogan called for giving the negotiations another chance and promised that he was ready for mediating a settlement in Ukraine.

Bagci doubts Zelensky made the decision to refuse to negotiate with Putin entirely on his own.

"There are certain doubts on this score. The United States and the European Union profess support for negotiations on resolving the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy, but in fact they do the opposite. Obviously, there will be an escalation. Europe should brace for a cold winter, literally and figuratively," Bagci warned.

The Ukrainian president on October 4 enacted the National Security and Defense Council’s decision to the effect holding negotiations with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin would be impossible. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it took two partners for conducting negotiations, so Russia would have to wait for the moment Ukraine’s current president changed his mind or Ukraine’s next president having a different viewpoint took over.

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