Turkey eyes Ukraine-Russia mediation role as Lavrov visits Ankara

Talks come as war enters fourth year and the US adopts a more pro-Kremlin stance

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday. EPA

Turkey has offered to host negotiations “between both parties” to end the war in Ukraine after backing an American push for peace.

As the war enters its fourth year, the offer follows talks between the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey in Ankara on Monday and a new US-led drive to end the conflict that has taken a sharp turn in Moscow’s favour.

“The new US initiative carries a lot of weight,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in a joint media conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the Turkish capital. “It is results orientated, and we believe that both parties should participate in talks to achieve peace and a resolution to this conflict.”

Ankara is ready to host potential future peace negotiations to end the war. “We stand ready and willing to provide all sorts of support to this process,” Mr Fidan said. “As before, we are also open to host these talks in Turkey.”

Mr Lavrov's visit to Ankara comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital last week and announced he would not make an expected trip to Saudi Arabia, in response to the US-Russian meeting in Riyadh where extensive talks were held without Ukrainian participation.

The Russian foreign minister later met with Mr Erdogan.

President Donald Trump has changed the American approach to Russia, appearing to align his administration with the Kremlin's aims more tightly than any US president since the start of the Cold War.

President Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the war, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. But he appears prepared to do so on terms far more acceptable to Moscow than Kyiv. Ukraine is refusing to recognise any land seized by Vladimir Putin's forces over the past three years as Russian territory.

The contours of any agreement still remain unclear, although Russia said in the Riyadh talks last week that it rejected outright any western or Nato forces being stationed in Ukraine as peacekeepers.

“We do not know what these security guarantees are going to look like, but the technical preparations are under way,” said Mr Fidan, referring to conditions being discussed in Washington's talks with Moscow.

“We believe that all parties need to exhibit more realistic stances [ …] without these talks,” Mr Lavrov said in the press conference with Mr Fidan. “Also, without doing away with the reasons that gave way to this war, this war will never come to an end.”

Turkey has maintained diplomatic ties with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the conflict, and has attempted to build a reputation as a mediating power. It has provided military drones to Ukraine while also forging deep economic ties with Moscow in the form of oil and gas imports and burgeoning numbers of Russian tourists visiting Turkish cities and beaches.

Talks on Monday also covered a nuclear power plant on Turkey's Mediterranean coast that is being built by a subsidiary of Russia's state nuclear power company, Rosatom.

“Our colleagues will continue to focus on these matters so that the reactors in Akkuyu can be operationalised soon,” Mr Lavrov said in the press conference.

Mr Lavrov and Mr Fidan meet frequently – their most recent encounter was last week in Johannesburg, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting. Lavrov's last visit to Turkey was on October 18, 2024.

Turkey hosted direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022, just after the start of the war. That allowed it to broker an agreement for grain to be shipped through the Black Sea despite the hostilities. Moscow refused to renew the deal in July 2023, although Mr Lavrov said last week that the US and Russia had agreed to the possibility of reviving the agreement.

Mr Lavrov blamed the UK's then-leadership under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for preventing an end to the conflict through talks in Istanbul in April 2022, just weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion.

“We had reached an agreement in Istanbul at that time,” Mr Lavrov claimed. “We outlined a series of principles which were sort of put forward by the Ukrainians … but the West, the UK Prime Minister, Prime Minister Johnson, did not want this agreement to be signed.”

The talks in Ankara also covered Syria, where Russia reduced its military presence following the fall of its ally former President Bashar Al Assad in December. Turkey has widely been seen as the regional winner from the fall of the regime, and is set to benefit from wider influence over its southern neighbour under the new transitional authorities in the country.

“Russia and Turkey are ready and willing to work together to improve the situation in Syria, to instil peace and stability in Syria,” Mr Lavrov said.

Turkey's main goal in Syria is stemming the presence of the separatist militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has offshoot branches in the north-east of the country.

Ankara has vowed to eliminate the forces by military means if continuing talks to integrate the groups into a new centralised Syrian army controlled by Damascus do not bear fruit. It is also concerned about the presence of Isis militants, whose continued presence in Syria represents a regional security threat.

“The international community, when it comes to fight against Daesh (Isis) and the PKK, needs to exhibit a common or shared stance. Certain positive steps are being taken in the region,” Mr Fidan said, without providing details.

Turkey also reiterated its stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict to Russia, including that the ceasefire in Gaza should be made permanent, and a rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians, following President Trump’s announcement of plans to take over the coastal enclave.