Turkish president, NATO chief discuss developments in Russia, Sweden

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg have discussed the latest developments in Russia and Sweden's NATO membership in a phone call, according to a statement by Türkiye's Communications Directorate.

During the call on Sunday, it was pointed out that the end of tensions in Russia "prevented the occurrence of irrevocable humanitarian tragedies in the Ukrainian field," the statement said.

Erdogan conveyed to Stoltenberg that Türkiye hopes recent developments in Russia will be "a new milestone in the path to a just peace in Ukraine," it added.

The paramilitary Wagner group accused Russian forces on Friday of attacking its fighters and the group subsequently crossed from Ukraine into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

In response, the Federal Security Service in Russia initiated a criminal case against Wagner for "armed rebellion." Russian President Vladimir Putin labelled Wagner's uprising as an act of "treason."

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin later claimed his fighters decided to turn back to avoid bloodshed when they were 200 kilometres (124 miles) from Moscow, while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he held talks with the Wagner head with Putin's accord, and Prigozhin accepted a de-escalation deal.

Stockholm's NATO bid

As for Sweden’s membership in the defence alliance, President Erdogan stated that "Türkiye maintains its constructive stance" but "legislative amendments would be meaningless so long as PKK/PYD/YPG supporters organise demonstrations freely in this country."

Further, it was underlined in the call that "the injustices faced within the context of the F-35s and the attempts to associate Türkiye’s requests about the F-16s with Sweden’s membership would harm NATO and its security rather than Türkiye."

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Turkish officials have said Sweden tolerated and even supported PKK members on its soil, and that steps taken to change this need to be proven before it joins the alliance.