ISTANBUL, August 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey would be crucial not only for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but also for reducing tensions in the Black Sea, Turkey’s Foreign Policy Institute President Huseyin Bagci told TASS.

"The visit is extremely important for both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart [Recep] Tayyip Erdogan. Through Turkey the president of Russia will, first of all, be able to communicate to the West and Asia his position on the problems that concern it. On the other hand, we should not forget that the Black Sea has been heating up politically and militarily in recent days, and if a ceasefire [in Ukraine] is not secured in the foreseeable future, even a small spark could cause a serious conflict in this region," Bagci, a leading Turkish analyst on European security, said in an interview.

He said Turkey in the current situation "should not disturb the existing balances in the region and create preconditions for a potential conflict in the Black Sea region".

Ankara has previously repeatedly stated that it strictly complies with the Montreux Convention regulating the rules of navigation in the Black Sea straits, and has not allowed a single warship to enter the Black Sea since Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine, with such compliance preventing the conflict from spreading out across the Black Sea region.

The Telegram channel Shot ran a news post on Wednesday that cited sources as saying Putin could meet with Erdogan on August 31. The post didn’t give the location of the meeting. The press office of the Turkish presidency told TASS they had no specific information about the potential meeting of the two heads of state.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on August 3 that the venue and exact date of the meeting between the presidents would be agreed through diplomatic channels. A day earlier, Peskov said that "the place of the meeting will be discussed, and it won’t necessarily be Turkey.".