Turkey: NATO allies want longer Ukraine war to weaken Russia

Turkey has accused some of its NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies of wanting the war in Ukraine to last longer in order to weaken Russia.

“There are countries within NATO who want the war to continue,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk in an interview.

“They want Russia to become weaker,” Cavusoglu said, as talks between Ukrainians and Russians appear to have stalled after the last face-to-face meeting in Istanbul last month.

The talks had been due to continue online.

He did not name any country directly.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 27 April that Ukrainians were “withdrawing from what there have already been agreements on.”

NATO member Turkey has supplied Ukraine with combat drones, but has shied away from slapping sanctions on Russia alongside Western allies.

But since Ankara enjoys good relations with Kyiv and Moscow, it has been mediating for an end to the conflict and offered to host a leaders’ summit.

Turkey has twice hosted direct negotiations between the two sides, on 10 March between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in the southern city of Antalya, and on 29 March between the two sides’ negotiators in Istanbul.