Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's spokesman, quoted by Russian news agencies, said on Wednesday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan could not act as an intermediary in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by a Russian television interviewer whether Erdogan could assume such a role, replied: "No, it's not possible," Tass news agency reported.
This was after Erdogan told Putin te same day that Ankara could help establish a basis to end the Ukraine-Russia war and that a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said.
The two leaders also discussed the war in Gaza and ways to end the conflict in Syria, the Turkish presidency said in a statement after Erdogan and Putin met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan.