Erdoğan set to host Putin, meet Egypt's el-Sissi, reports say

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to engage in crucial talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Türkiye before heading to Egypt for discussions with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, according to local reports.

Putin's visit marks his first trip to a NATO ally since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The two leaders are expected to address regional concerns, including the war in Ukraine, the situation in Syria and Israel's actions in Gaza, daily Hürriyet has reported.

The Kremlin on Feb. 2 confirmed Putin's upcoming visit, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the Russian leader’s discussions with Erdoğan will be centered on the Ukraine war, as reported by the RIA news agency. Peskov, however, declined to specify the exact date of the visit. Local reports in Turkish media cited Feb. 12 as the date.

Notably, Ankara has long sought to convince Russia to return to a key grain initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye to provide protected exports from Ukrainian ports, after Moscow withdrew last July following a year of implementation.

Türkiye, which shares a maritime border with both Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has sought to maintain good ties with both nations since Moscow's invasion. It has provided military support to Kiev and voiced support for its territorial integrity, but also opposes sanctions on Russia.

Putin's international travels have been constrained since March last year, following an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, a war crime.

Moscow has denied the accusations, dismissing the warrant as legally void due to its non-membership in the ICC. Türkiye is also not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Following his meeting with Putin, Erdoğan will embark on a two-day visit to Egypt, scheduled for Feb. 13, the Hürriyet wrote. The visit aims to mend relations between the two nations, which have been strained for over a decade.

Erdoğan's discussions with el-Sissi are anticipated to center on aid shipments to Palestinians in Gaza and strategies to resolve ongoing conflicts in the region. Additionally, talks on bolstering trade and determining maritime boundaries to enable Türkiye to access more Mediterranean energy resources are also on the agenda, according to the reports.

The visits and their detailed agendas have not been officially announced yet.

The relations were disrupted over the 2013 military coup in Egypt, which installed el-Sissi as head of state. Ankara and Cairo have been intensifying efforts to heal ties for a while, especially after a landmark handshake between their leaders at the football World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

The two countries restored diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors last July.

Türkiye emerged as Egypt's top export destination in 2022, with bilateral trade reaching approximately $7 billion, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.