Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had proposed reviving contacts on Black Sea shipping but that he had not yet had time to study the documents, Reuters reported.

Turkey and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have long been seeking to get merchant shipping sailing more freely through the Black Sea, which in parts has become a naval war zone since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin told Russian state television that Erdoğan had “once again renewed these proposals to continue contacts related to shipping in the Black Sea, [and] on some other issues.”

Putin met with Erdoğan and Guterres at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

“I haven’t even had time to read the materials …” Putin said. “Well, let’s see. We’ve never refused this.”

Turkey and the United Nations helped mediate the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal struck in July 2022 that allowed the safe export of nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea despite the war.

Russia withdrew from the agreement after a year, complaining that its own food and fertilizer exports faced serious obstacles.

Erdoğan told reporters on the way back from Kazan that Putin was “engaged in a search in terms of achieving a permanent ceasefire.”

Turkey wants to promote peace talks

Erdoğan said he had discussed the grain corridor with Russia and that Putin had also discussed a possible swap of prisoners.

“Our wish is to start peace negotiations between the two countries as soon as possible and reach a beneficial outcome,” Erdoğan said.

Months of steady advances by Moscow’s forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, have underlined Russia’s vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it.

When asked if he felt that the war might become a frozen conflict along the lines of Korea or Cyprus, Putin said, “Any outcome should be in favor of Russia. I speak bluntly, without any hesitation, and should proceed from the realities that are taking shape on the battlefield.”