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Turkey won’t sanction Russia, despite NATO pressure – reports — Analysis

The military bloc’s secretary general said earlier he expected Ankara to impose punitive measures on Moscow

Turkey is not going to impose sanctions on Russia, but will instead work to maintain dialogue with the Kremlin, Turkey’s TRT Haber TV channel reported on Friday, citing Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankara did not intend to move forward with the plans, clarified the official. “impose sanctions on Russia,”Adding that the Turkish government was keen to cooperate “keep the channel of trust open.”Kalin said that Turkey wanted to avoid negative economic consequences from punitive measures.

While denouncing Russia’s offensive against its neighbor, Turkey, unlike most other NATO countries, has stopped short of slapping punitive measures on Russia. Ankara is instead trying to broker a truce or peace agreement between warring parties in order to facilitate a deal.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated to Turkish media that NATO expects the Turkish government to support its efforts. “all our allies to impose sanctions”Russia and that he “conveyed this matter” to Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during their meeting in Antalya.

Sergey Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) also met his counterpart from Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba in Antalya. This was the first meeting between the diplomats since Russia’s military attack on Ukraine, February 24, 2017.

Outcome of 'difficult' Russia-Ukraine talks revealed

Despite the fact that no breakthroughs were achieved, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Friday that they had made progress. “certain positive developments.”Three previous rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place in Belarus.

In a telephone call to Joe Biden, President Erdogan described the Lavrov–Kuleba conference as a diplomatic win per se. The Turkish head of state also reiterated that Ankara’s role as a mediator between Kiev and Moscow was important in terms of preventing the armed conflict from intensifying even further.

Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine has seen the US, Canada, the EU, Japan, Australia and several other countries impose a series of sanctions on Moscow intended to “cripple”Russian economy. The punitive measures targeted, among other things, Russia’s central bank, as well as several major commercial banks, state-funded media – including RT – and Russia’s leadership directly.

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