ANKARA — Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting on Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, their first since Fidan took the position in June and reinforced Moscow's support for including Turkey in the BRICS bloc.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the BRICS+ foreign ministers meeting in western Russia, Putin expressed support closer ties between Turkey and the China-led bloc.
“We welcome Turkey's interest in the work of BRICS,” Putin told Fidan at the closed-door meeting. “Undoubtedly, we will fully support this aspiration and desire to be together with the countries of this union, to be closer,” he added.
While this was the first meeting with Putin, it was Fidan's second visit to Russia as the country’s top diplomat, following his first trip to Turkey’s Black Sea neighbor last August. During his two-day visit, the Turkish official also met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service Sergei Naryshkin, according to Turkey's public broadcaster, TRT.
