Ukraine is cooperating with Turkey, but understands its parallel relations with Russia, said a Ukrainian diplomat who asked for anonymity, BTA reports.
“Instead of criticizing Turkey, we are working with the Turkish side as much as possible, and we do not want what is impossible,” the diplomat told foreign journalists yesterday.
“We would be happy if Turkey joined the sanctions” and suspended flights from Russia, the diplomat told foreign journalists yesterday, adding that his country understood the “reality” of Ankara’s parallel ties with Moscow.
Turkey has criticized the invasion and sold drones to Kyiv, despite Moscow’s objections. At the same time, she opposes Western sanctions against Russia, trying to use cautious rhetoric to refrain from accusations of both conflict and reports of war crimes in some parts of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian diplomat noted that Turkey is the only country that managed to organize a meeting for peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials.
One hundred thousand Russian citizens have arrived in Turkey and asked for a residence permit since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the diplomat added.
During the same period, 47,000 Ukrainians arrived in the country, 85,000 of whom went to other countries or returned home.
Turkey, heavily dependent on energy imports from Russia and Russian tourists, is becoming a safe haven for Russian citizens fleeing sanctions, many of whom are investing in real estate.
Turkey has banned some Russian warships from passing through the Bosphorus, thereby “rescuing” the Ukrainian city of Odessa, which resists Russian attacks, a Ukrainian diplomat said.
According to the diplomat, some Russian ships are still passing and can receive cargo from the territorial waters of Syria. “We ask the Turkish side to monitor what is transported from Syria to Russia,” he added.
Turkey opposes Russia’s policies in Syria and Libya and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but at the same time bought a missile defense system from Russia, for which it came under US sanctions in 2020.