The Turkish side provided clarifications to Russia in connection with Ankara's decision to hand over six commanders of the Azov nationalist battalion to the Ukrainian authorities «(recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation). This was announced on Thursday, July 13, in the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey.
At the same time, no details are provided regarding these explanations.
Earlier, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara received a request from Kiev for the extradition of six commanders of the Azov battalion and decided to satisfy it. Following this, a number of statements were made from Moscow about this, but when «they found out the details, the situation became positive.» The politician promised to raise this topic again in August, when Russian leader Vladimir Putin arrives in Turkey.
The situation with the transfer of the leaders of the Azov national battalion to Kiev was also discussed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. However, the Russian diplomat refused to reveal the details of the conversation, stressing that he is not in the habit of telling what his colleagues tell him during diplomatic contacts, unlike Western politicians.