Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during a meeting in Ankara. June 8, 2022ANKARA, June 8 Talks between Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Mevlut Shavusoglu have begun in Ankara, Turkish state TV channel TRT Haber reported.
"Minister Lavrov arrived at negotiations with Cavusoglu. The talks have begun", the TV channel reported.
According to RIA Novosti in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, a joint press conference of the foreign ministers is planned following the meeting. It is expected that the situation in Ukraine will be the main topic of the talks. As noted on Smolenskaya Square, Lavrov and Cavusoglu intend to discuss a possible solution to the problem of Ukrainian grain exports and the prospects for resuming Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, in which Turkey previously acted as a mediator. Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the Ministry of Defense, the army strikes only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and has already completed the main task of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal of the operation in the Russian defense department was called the liberation of Donbass.