TURKEY
Recep Tayyip Erdogan – Turkish President
Turkey cannot regard Sweden and Finland’s potential NATO membership positively due to numerous “terrorist organizations” residing in the countries, Erdogan stated on Friday. “We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t hold positive views,” he stressed.
RUSSIA – GERMANY
Vladimir Putin – Russian President
Olaf Scholz – German Chancellor
According to the Kremlin press service, during a telephone conversation with Scholz on Friday, Putin said that Ukraine is “blocking” the continuation of peace talks between Kiev and Moscow. In addition to this, the two leaders also considered the developments in the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the evacuation from the Azovstal steel plant.
FINLAND
Pekka Haavisto – Finnish Foreign Minister
Haavisto stated on Friday that Finland’s membership in NATO will not happen in one day and said the issues should be resolved on a “step by step” basis.
US – RUSSIA
Lloyd Austin – US Secretary of DefenseÂ
Sergey Shoigu – Russian Defense Minister
“Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had telephone talks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the initiative of the American side. The sides discussed current issues of international security, including the situation in Ukraine,” the Russian defense ministry said on Friday.
