Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, following the opposition’s accusation of Russian meddling in tomorrow’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey.

Mr. Erdogan’s opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, yesterday Thursday accused Russian agents – without naming them – of spreading “deepfakes” and other forms of disinformation, with the aim of influencing the outcome of tomorrow’s match.

The Kremlin “categorically” denied the accusation of the candidate of the Turkish opposition.

Mr Erdogan defended Mr Putin in a televised campaign speech yesterday.

“Mr. Kemal is attacking Russia, Mr. Putin. If you attack Putin, I will not agree. Our relations with Russia are no less important than those with the USA,” the outgoing Turkish president emphasized.

Mr Erdogan has sought to maintain good relations with Moscow since war broke out with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Turkey, a NATO member, has benefited from discounts on Russian energy prices and refuses to impose, like the West, sanctions on Russia.

The latest polls predict a lopsided showdown tomorrow.

Mr. Kilicdaroglu’s complaint was made as in recent days the tones in the election campaign became particularly aggressive and the third party candidate, Muharem Ince, withdrew the day before Thursday.

Mr Inze announced his retirement after he became the target of an online smear campaign, including fake photos of him with various women or behind the wheel of luxury cars.

Mr. Erdogan’s campaign also distributed edited videos at some of his campaign rallies that tried to link Kemal Kilicdaroglu to the PKK, an armed Kurdish separatist movement outlawed in Turkey that Ankara and its Western allies they call it a “terrorist” organization.