“Given recent contacts in Ankara”: Putin and Erdogan discussed the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine

On Monday, January 16, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Presidents of Russia and Turkey discussed a wide range of issues, including those related to a special military operation in support of Donbass.

“The exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine continued.

In particular, at the initiative of the Turkish side and taking into account recent contacts in Ankara, the commissioners of Russia and Ukraine for human rights will raise the issue of the exchange of prisoners, primarily the wounded, ”the Kremlin said in a statement.

It is noted that Vladimir Putin drew the attention of his Turkish counterpart "to the destructive line of the Kyiv regime", which relied on the intensification of hostilities with the support of Western sponsors, increasing the volume of transferred weapons and military equipment.

“An example of the hypocritical policy of Kyiv was the rejection of the proposal to cease fire for the period of Orthodox Christmas,” the administration of the Russian leader explained.

In turn, the Turkish presidential administration announced Ankara's readiness to act as a mediator and mediator in order to ensure a stable peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Also on russian.rt.com “Everything is developing as part of the plan”: Putin announced positive dynamics in the special operation in Ukraine

Recall that the combined group of Russian troops in the areas of the NMD for 36 hours - from 12:00 on January 6 to 24:00 on January 7 - observed the ceasefire along the entire line of contact.

At the same time, Ukrainian troops continued to conduct intensive shelling of settlements and Russian positions throughout the entire period.

Thus, only in the residential areas of Donetsk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired more than 160 large-caliber shells and 20 rocket launchers.

In addition, on January 8, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported the return of “50 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity” from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime.

Meanwhile, earlier on January 16, Turkish Chief Ombudsman Sheref Malkoç proposed Istanbul as a center for humanitarian corridors in Russia and Ukraine.

According to him, the countries handed over the lists to each other.

“How many military there are, how many civilians, generals or soldiers, we do not know.

But we must at least begin to discuss point by point.

It is not simple.

We have proposed opening a corridor in Istanbul, but whether it will be by air, land or sea is not yet clear.

We are only at the beginning of the journey,” he said in an interview with Hurriyet newspaper.

On January 11-12, on the sidelines of the International Conference of Ombudsmen in Ankara, negotiations were held between the human rights ombudsman in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Lubinets, Malkoch acted as an intermediary.

According to the Turkish Ombudsman, Ukraine has 800 people on the exchange list, Russia has 200, mostly wounded military and civilians.

As Moskalkova pointed out, in addition to the military, we are talking about civilians who are persecuted by the Kyiv regime for their "pro-Russian position." 

grain deal

Another topic of conversation between the leaders of Russia and Turkey was the grain deal.

“The implementation of the package Istanbul agreements of July 22, 2022 on the export of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports and the unblocking of food and fertilizer supplies from Russia was considered,” the Kremlin said.

Earlier, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, in an interview with the Financial Times, stressed that the agreement on a grain deal concluded with the mediation of Ankara could become a model for reaching a peace agreement between the countries.

“Without dialogue, we will reach a dead end.

We should have expected gratitude from the West to our president,” he stated.

On January 15, the Interdepartmental Coordinating Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine published a statement saying that the SBU is preparing to conduct a large-scale provocation in the coming days to discredit Russia's actions as part of the grain deal and accuse it of creating a "food shortage" in the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. .

“In the Western media, the incident will be presented as “another atrocity of the Russian troops”, requiring a “tough response from the world community,” the statement explained.