"Traditional enemies." Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar compared Putin with Erdogan and spoke about the mutual images of Ankara and Moscow. Interview

- How should we evaluate Erdogan's statements that we have to treat Putin friendly? I quote: “The position of the US and EU countries is not constructive and only worsens the attitude of Russian President to themselves. We see in the face of Putin and in the face of Zelensky of our friends, not enemies. In my opinion, the approach of the event to Mr Putin is wrong . . . You know the attitude of Western politicians to Putin. So does not seek politicians. What attitude you will demonstrate, you get it.

" Erdogan realizes that Putin kills Ukrainians? - understands everything and knows full information, because it communicates directly with President Zelensky and also receives all the information from our bodies, from us. There is a certain policy that focuses on public opinion. Public opinion in Turkey (about 76%) is to ensure that Turkey remains neutral in Russia's war against Ukraine. And only 18–20% support Turkey's more active participation in support of Ukraine.

Erdogan, as a politician who focuses on the upcoming elections in 2023 - presidential and parliamentary, should reflect public views in his policy. The second story is related to mediatories. Turkey today is actually the only country that is active to seek diplomatic ways of resolving conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

In fact, they understand well that without the victory of the Russian aggressor success in diplomatic communication will not work, but they keep this allegedly balanced line in order to show that the efforts [made] to communicate with Russia and Ukraine are maintained in proper balance, It will be possible to achieve certain results in some way. One of these results is the creation of a humanitarian corridor for the removal of grain from Ukrainian ports.