Vladimir Putin is planning a rare foreign visit to NATO member Turkey World News

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped to discuss a potential prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine with the Kremlin leader during his visit in August.

Vladimir Putin is planning a rare foreign visit to Turkey next month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Mr. Erdogan said this during the press conference after the negotiations President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

The Turkish president did not provide further details on the timing of the August visit, but said a potential prisoner exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine would be among the issues discussed.

“I hope we will get results soon” Mr. Erdogan told reporters early on Saturday morning.

“If only we had made a few phone calls earlier [the face-to-face meeting]we will discuss this at the convocation,” he added.

Putin and Mr Erdogan previously held talks in Kazakhstan last October.

Mr Zelensky said he would wait for the outcome of any prisoner exchange deal before commenting, but added: “We are working on the return of our captives, political prisoners, Crimean Tatars.

“We have a whole list of partners. We’re really working on it.”

Ukraine war: US to send controversial weapons banned by more than 100 countries to Kiev

Since the Russian president began to intervene in Ukraine in February 2022, he has not set foot in any NATO country.

During this period, he made only a few international trips, including short ones Iran last July and a close ally Belarus in December.

Putin is increasingly isolated amid ongoing Western sanctions The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for his arrest Due to war crimes allegations that Russia illegally deported Ukrainian children during the war.

But despite the tensions in Turkey and NATO membership, Mr. Erdogan tried to maintain relations with both Ukraine and Russia during the conflict.

Turkey has not joined Western economic sanctions, but has supplied weapons to Ukraine and rejected Russian attempts to annex its territory.

The ICC does not have its own police force and Experts downplayed the possibility of Putin’s arrest soonsaid that one cannot be arrested in a foreign country without cooperating with the government of a state.

Mr. Erdogan has been keen to cast himself as a mediator in the war, including helping broker the deal last year. It will enable the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea.

The the current version of the contract It will end on July 17, but the Turkish leader said that work is underway to extend it.

During the press conference, Mr. Erdogan also supported Ukraine’s desire to become a member of NATO after the end of the war and said that he will continue to try and make efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Putin’s visit to Turkey was not approved by the Kremlin.

But spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters before Saturday’s press conference in Istanbul: “As for the expected contacts between Putin and Erdogan, we do not rule them out in the near future.”