Russian President Vladimir Putin praised President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his efforts to end the Ukraine war and thanked him for facilitating the Ukraine grain deal after holding a bilateral meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Friday.
While praising the Turkish president's efforts to end the war in Ukraine, Putin said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not prepared to hold peace talks.
Putin said Erdoğan was always proposing meetings with Zelenskyy - although he had not done so at their meeting this time in Samarkand - and that the Turkish leader had made a "significant contribution" to attempts to end the conflict.
The closed-door meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
According to a statement by the Kremlin, Putin also said he hopes much of Ukraine's grain will go to the poorest countries.
It also noted that the Russian side received signals about the possibility of shipment of its grain through Turkish ports.
Previously, Erdoğan said Türkiye wants grain shipments from Russia to also resume, like Ukraine's exports under the deal.
Earlier, Putin urged the United Nations to influence the European Union to lift sanctions on Russian fertilizer exports to developing states.
Russia is ready to transfer 300,000 tons of fertilizers to developing countries free of charge once the necessary conditions are created, Putin said.
Erdoğan attended the SCO leaders' summit as a special guest, with Türkiye taking part at the presidential level for the first time since Ankara was made a dialogue partner in the organization in 2012.
The Turkish president addressed the second session of the summit and is holding bilateral meetings with leaders in attendance.
On the sidelines of the summit, Erdoğan earlier held closed-door meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Established in 2001, the eight-member organization aims to strengthen friendly, good neighborly relations and mutual trust among its member states.
