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Russia's oligarchs who are sanctioned because of their country's invasion of Ukraine can come to Turkey as long as they don't violate international and domestic law, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.
"In principle, we allow all activities that are legal in our country. We also do not allow illegal activities. The answer to this question is clear and simple as this," the minister said yesterday (March 27) during the Doha Forum in Qatar's capital city.
"Any Russian citizen can visit Turkey if they want to do so. Right now, Russians can come to Turkey as tourists without any problems," he remarked. "We will evaluate this if the businesses that the Russian oligarchs will do in Turkey are not against international law. Otherwise, it would be a different matter."
Last week, two yachts belonging to Russia's Roman Abramovich docked in the coastal resort of Bodrum on Turkey's Aegean coast.
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On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Çavuşoğlu said, "Our job is to actually have them find this face-saving way out."
He added that in the end President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his counterpart from Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will make the final decision, "so that's why we have been also trying to bring them together."
About Ukraine's wish for NATO membership, Çavuşoğlu said, "I think Ukraine has understood that NATO membership will not happen. It was not going to happen anyway. And many European allies were against this NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia. So Ukraine understood this perfectly."
Saying that Ukraine does not have the luxury of choosing between West and East, or between Europe and Russia, he underlined that Turkey and Ukraine, as countries in the region, should have a balanced foreign policy with all.
Russia's invasion of UkraineOn February 24, explosions were reported in several Ukrainian provinces, including the capital Kyiv, after Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' in the Donbas region. Tensions had started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, which was consistently rejected by Moscow. Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states in late February, followed by the start of the invasion of Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms. At least 1,119 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 1,700 others have been injured, according to the UN estimates. More than 3.8 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, with over 6.5 million more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency. |
(RT/VK)
