Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin agreed to hold a telephone conversation and then a personal meeting.

Putin said this during a press conference following the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, reports Turkish newspaper Anadolu.

"We agreed that we would meet. Yes, either he will come to us (in Russia - ed.), or I will go to him, we'll see. He invited me before the elections [in Turkey - ed.], but then we decided that it was better not to do this so that no one would speculate on this topic. We decided to postpone the meeting. But we have not agreed anywhere, either here or in Turkey. We'll see," the Russian dictator said.

Putin added that he and Erdogan agreed to hold a telephone conversation on Wednesday, August 2, where they should agree on the details of the upcoming meeting.

"We wanted to talk on the phone, President Erdogan offered a conversation, but he offered a time that was not very convenient for me. I offered today – he is uncomfortable, suggested tomorrow – he is also uncomfortable. Well, agreed to talk, in my opinion, for Wednesday. We will negotiate there and decide," Putin added.

In addition, he ignored the journalist's question about whether he considers the departure of Azovstal defense commanders from Turkey to Ukraine a violation of agreements with Moscow.

"The arrangements were... There will be no other comments," the dictator said.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Putin ignores Erdogan's attempts to discuss the "grain deal".

We will remind, on July 17, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is withdrawing from the "grain deal".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted to this statement. He promised to discuss this issue with Putin.

In turn, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Erdogan and the UN to independently guarantee the safety of ships on their own.

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