Editor's note: The article was updated with a response by the Kremlin.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could help mediate the war between Moscow and Kyiv as he is respected by Russia, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 13.
"He's respected by Russia. Ukraine, I can't tell you about, but he is respected by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One while flying from Egypt to Washington.
The U.S. president made the comments after successfully mediating a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and declaring his team would now shift focus to ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he gets along "with the tough ones" while referring to Erdogan, noting that other NATO leaders often ask the U.S. president to mediate their disputes with Ankara.
The Kremlin said there has been no recent engagement with Turkey regarding the war in Ukraine, but a phone call between leaders could be swiftly set up if needed.
"There have been no new contacts, but they could be quickly arranged," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told pro-government Russian outlet Kommersant.
Trump and Erdogan previously met in Sharm el-Sheikh, where they joined the leaders of Qatar and Egypt in signing the Gaza peace deal as mediators.
Turkey, a NATO member often at odds with other allies, has also positioned itself as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war, maintaining a close economic and political partnership with Moscow while also providing arms to Kyiv.
Istanbul hosted the three rounds of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks earlier this year, which resulted in new agreements on prisoner exchanges, as well as the unsuccessful initial negotiations at the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022.
Erdogan has also helped to broker the Black Sea grain deal in 2022, allowing Ukrainian agricultural exports despite ongoing hostilities. The treaty fell apart a year later after Moscow's unilateral withdrawal.
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