Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov heads today to Turkey which has sought to revive Russia-Ukraine peace talks and ways to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea.

AP report that Lavrov will attend part of the annual diplomatic forum in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya where he is to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and foreign minister Hakan Fidan.

The Russia-Ukraine war will be a key talking point at the forum that runs from Friday to Sunday, though Russia’s top diplomat is to leave on Saturday.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ankara has carefully maintained ties with both sides. “Turkey, along with Hungary, remains one of the last countries in the [Nato] Atlantic Alliance to maintain dialogue with Moscow,” Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Edam thinktank, told AP.

“In a geopolitical context modified by the war, Turkey is careful to keep this role for the future, hoping to capitalise on it during possible peace talks,” he added.

Erdoğan said onWednesday that Turkey wants to revive a 2022 peace effort when top negotiators from the rivals met in Istanbul.

“We are ready to re-establish the negotiating table to build peace like we did in Istanbul previously,” Erdoğan said in a video message played at a summit of southeast European leaders in Tirana this week, at which Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was present.

The Turkish leader also called for a new secure mechanism for Black Sea shipping. “We need an arrangement that guarantees the safe navigation of commercial vessels in the Black Sea,” he said. “To this end, we are continuing our contacts to receive commitments in terms of security,” he added without providing details.

/The Guardian