Turkey's foreign minister to visit Moscow for talks on Ukraine, Black Sea

ANKARA, June 15 (Reuters) – Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will repeat Turkey’s offer to host talks between Russia and Ukraine on a visit to Moscow this week at which he will also discuss Black Sea shipping safety and the South Caucasus, a diplomatic source said on Monday.

The visit on Tuesday and Wednesday comes ahead of Turkey hosting a NATO summit on July 7-8, and after Kyiv asked Ankara in April to mediate by hosting a leaders’ level meeting. Turkey has maintained cordial ties with Moscow and Kyiv since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The Turkish source said Fidan would meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and later meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He will warn against further escalation in the Black Sea and repeat Turkey’s proposal of a limited ceasefire on ports and energy infrastructure, the source said. In recent months, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of drone attacks on tankers near Turkey’s northern coast.

A Ukrainian official said that Kyiv would welcome an offer from Turkey to host bilateral talks, which President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has proposed several times.

Kyiv’s ambassador to Ankara told Reuters last month that it wanted deeper ties with Turkey, including joint production in the defence industry.

Fidan will also discuss developments in the South Caucasus, after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won elections this month, and as Yerevan works with Azerbaijan on a peace deal that may speed up Turkey’s normalisation with Armenia.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)