The Kremlin announced today that follows the conversations “very closely”. of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskywho is expected to meet tonight in Turkey, with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoganduring which the potential extension of the agreement on grain exports through the Black Sea will be discussed.

“We are following the results of the negotiations very closely and will continue our constructive partnership with Ankara,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, hailing Erdogan’s “mediating role” in the conflict in Ukraine and underlining that the Turkish president “has repeatedly made great efforts to solve various problems.”

Peskov also stated that the Russian president Vladimir Putin may soon hold talks with Erdogan, but no date has been set yet.

Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Istanbul tonight.

The visit takes place before its summit NATO on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius of Lithuania and as Moscow threatens not to extend the deal on Ukrainian grain exports, which expires in July and was brokered by Turkey.