Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accused certain NATO allies of wanting to prolong the Ukraine war to weaken Russia.
“After the talks in Istanbul, we did not think that the war would take this long. There are those who want this war to continue,” the minister told broadcaster CNN Türk. “But, following the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, it was the impression that ... there are those within the NATO member states that want the war to continue, let the war continue and Russia gets weaker. They don’t care much about the situation in Ukraine,” he added.
Çavuşoğlu stressed that Ukraine must not be seen as an arena of competition. He made the comment as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been stalled since the round held in Istanbul last month. Back-channel diplomacy continues among leaders, Çavuşoğlu did say, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would speak to the leaders again in the coming days. He also said the “meeting of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in Antalya is still on the table.”
