Turkey says Putin wants to negotiate 'grand bargain' with West

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate a "new grand bargain" with the West, which is partly about Ukraine, according to Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

That's according to CNN, Ukrinform reports.

"Our understanding is that Mr. Putin wants to have a new grand bargain, a new deal with the West. It's partly about Ukraine, no doubt. But the larger issue is really a new deal between Russia and the Western world," Kalin said.

According to him, Moscow feels that the agreements made at the end of the Cold War, under Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, no longer reflect the Russia of today.

"There is a new Russia, there is a new world, there is a new reality, and they want to have a new bargain," Kalin said.

He also said that, despite the Ukrainian side's rejection of Vladimir Putin as a person with whom any negotiations can be conducted, in his opinion, negotiations will likely resume at some point.

"The question is: When we will come back to it and how much damage will have been done by then?" Kalin said.

Earlier in a phone call with Putin, Erdogan said he was ready to mediate in the negotiation process to achieve peace.