Russia: Turkiye should have no illusions over its EU bid

Turkey should be under no illusion that it might one day be allowed to join the European Union, the Kremlin said yesterday, as Moscow stressed its desire for strong relations with Ankara despite existing disagreements between them, including over the growth of NATO, Reuters reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about NATO member Turkiye’s decision to lift its opposition to Sweden joining the alliance on the eve of a two-day NATO summit in Lithuania.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to maintain cordial ties with both Moscow and Kyiv during the 16-month war in Ukraine. He has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia following the invasion and has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Turkiye in August.

Ankara had not approved Sweden’s accession to NATO, accusing the Nordic country of not doing enough to crack down on Kurdish groups which Turkiye deems are ‘terrorists’. On Monday, however, Erdogan dropped his objection to Sweden becoming NATO’s 32nd member.

“Turkiye can orient itself to the West, we know that in the history of the Republic of Turkiye there were periods of intensive orientation to the West, there were periods of less intensive ones,” he told a daily news briefing.

Erdogan said on Monday that the EU should open the way for a resumption of stalled talks on Turkiye’s bid to join the bloc in exchange for Ankara endorsing Sweden’s application to join NATO, but European leaders said they could not accept such a linkage.

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Peskov said Russia understood that Turkiye had to fulfil its obligations as a NATO member, but he added that Moscow wanted to continue to build mutually beneficial relations with Ankara despite “all disagreements”.

Turkiye is currently trying to persuade Russia to extend a deal it helped broker along with the United Nations last summer that allows Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea. Moscow says it may not allow its extension beyond 17 July.

Turkiye also helped broker prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, and the Kremlin says Putin highly appreciates Erdogan’s efforts to mediate in the war.

The Kremlin is also keen to build a new hub in Turkiye for exports of Russian gas, as Moscow reroutes shipments in response to European sanctions and efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy.