Vladimir Putin approached Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a proposal that Turkish attack drone maker, Baykar, set up a production plant in Russia, local media, CNN Turk, reported on 27 July.
According to the report, Erdogan told colleagues at a top party meeting on 26 July that Putin approached him during their July 19 meeting in Tehran to suggest the Baykar deal.
“Putin told me that he wants to work with Baykar,” Erdogan reportedly said. “He proposed to establish a factory in Russia as [Baykar] has done in the UAE.”
Baykar CEO, Haluk Bayraktar, told CNN: “We have not delivered or supplied them [Russia] with anything, [and] we will as well never do such a thing because we support Ukraine, support its sovereignty, its resistance for its independence.”
The Bayraktar TB2 drones have built up a proven track record of success amid military operations in the Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts in recent years.
READ: Norway, Canada launch crowdfunding campaigns to buy Turkiye drones for Ukraine