Putin to visit Erdoğan at end of August: Turkish media

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could visit his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the end of this month, Turkish media reported Monday, as Ankara seeks to revive the Black Sea grain deal.

Erdoğan’s Cabinet will meet Monday to discuss “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s possible visit to Turkey at the end of this month,” pro-government daily Hürriyet reported.

During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Istanbul last month, the Turkish president announced Putin would travel to Turkey in August to discuss extending the deal that allowed Ukraine to continue to export its agricultural goods through the Black Sea after the full-scale Russian invasion.

Bu the agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in the wake of last year’s invasion, ended last month after Russia unilaterally withdrew from the deal.

Erdoğan has played a strategic balancing act over the course of Russia’s war. While broadly condemning the illegality of Putin’s invasion and selling Turkish-made drones to Ukrainian forces, Ankara has also emerged as a key route for sanctions avoidance and is keen not to alienate Moscow because of its heavy energy dependence on Russia.