Russia will respond positively to Turkey’s request for mediation on Ukraine — experts

At the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan, Russia will likely give a positive response to Turkey’s request to mediate in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, though the prospects for this process will be long-term.

That forecast was given by experts to URA.RU.

Political scientist, international affairs specialist, and Middle East expert Yelena Suponina believes that positive statements from Putin and Erdogan will be heard at the summit.

“Turkish mediation in the Ukrainian crisis has often led to temporary breakthroughs. The problem is that the benefit for Russia from these achievements was far too short-lived. To ease tensions, positive statements from Putin and Erdogan will almost certainly be made at the summit — they do have a good mutual understanding with each other. They will probably announce that negotiations on Ukraine will continue,” Suponina said.

At the same time, in her assessment, questions of Ankara’s mediation and the resumption of the negotiating process will have a long-term outlook, and their resolution will again prove drawn-out. The reason is the likely continued involvement of Turkey by the United States in supplying military equipment to the Kyiv regime, which will diminish the weight of Turkish proposals.

Suponina explains Erdogan’s behavior — combining the role of mediator with military support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces — as Turkey’s desire to maintain relations with both sides of the conflict.

“Erdogan is maneuvering — that is his usual tactic, there is nothing surprising about it,” the political scientist added.

A more skeptical position was taken by Alexei Mukhin, Director General of the Center for Political Information. According to him, the process of considering Turkey’s proposals is ongoing, but no concrete answer — including at the SCO summit — will be forthcoming, since Russia has not yet completed a certain phase of the special military operation related to weakening Ukraine’s military potential.

“There is no possibility right now for the result Turkey is dreaming of. Talks are ongoing, but a result will not be achieved. Russia adheres to its national priorities and interests,” Mukhin concluded.

Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan on a working visit to participate in the 25th anniversary SCO summit. On the first day of the visit, he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. For September 1 — the main day of the summit — meetings are planned with the presidents of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Mongolia, the Prime Minister of Armenia, as well as with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.