Erdogan Says Talked to Putin Five Times Over Past Month

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin five times in the past month and also maintains regular contact with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

"In the course of 20 years, both during my premiership and during my presidency, we have been in constant contact with world leaders. In the last month alone, we have spoken with Mr. Putin five times. The same with Mr. Zelensky," Erdogan said on Sunday, as quoted by state-run news agency Anadolu.

He added that he maintains regular telephone contacts with the US leadership as well.

On Friday, the Turkish president said that he was going to hold phone talks with Putin, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the near future.

Erdogan also said that Ankara has not lost the hope of organizing a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, and pointed out that, during a telephone conversation on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader signaled his intention to overcome the crisis.

Russia-Ukraine talks began at the end of February after the start of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine. The last round of the negotiations concluded in Istanbul on March 29. The talks have since stalled, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accusing Kiev of a lack of interest in reaching an agreement.

In late September, Putin confirmed that Russia was still open to talks with Ukraine and called on Kiev to stop the hostilities. Zelensky, in turn, stated that Kiev was ready for dialogue with Moscow, but only if another president came to power in Russia. The Kremlin responded that Moscow would wait for a change in the stance of Ukraine's current president or his successor.