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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, discussing Türkiye-Russia relations as well as regional and global issues, the Turkish Directorate of Communications said.
During the call, Erdogan said efforts to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea were important.
He also said Türkiye was always ready to contribute to efforts to launch direct contacts between Russia and Ukraine.
The call came after a series of incidents involving Turkish-owned ships in the Black Sea.
On Monday, the Turkish-owned Royad Mammadov, which was carrying Ukrainian wheat to Italy, caught fire and sank off Romania, with Romanian media reporting that it had been hit by a drone.
War-related objects found in the Black Sea, concentrated in Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish waters, more than doubled in six months, maritime risk firm Ambrey said last month.
Eleven Turkish and seven Indian sailors were rescued from a ship hit by drones in Bulgaria’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone, while the crew of a second, sunken vessel remained missing, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Tuesday.
“It has been categorically confirmed by the crews that the two ships were attacked with drones,” Radev told an emergency meeting.
He said the vessels were struck by sea and air drones at around 3:00 a.m. (12:00 a.m. GMT), about 70 nautical miles east of the Bulgarian town of Byala.
The strikes on two Turkish-owned cargo ships were the first such attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone and came a day after another Turkish-owned ship sank off Romania, killing two crew members.
During the call, Erdogan also congratulated Putin on his birthday and on his party’s success in Russia’s State Duma elections.
The State Duma of the ninth convocation opened its first session on Sept. 30, following parliamentary elections held Sept. 18-20.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said United Russia won 349 of the 450 seats, while the Communist Party took 37, the Liberal Democratic Party 23, New People 19 and A Just Russia 17.
The Rodina party won one seat, while four seats went to independent candidates. Voter turnout was 59.8%.
Vyacheslav Volodin was re-elected chairman of the State Duma at the first session, receiving 406 votes from 442 lawmakers who took part in the vote.
He has headed the lower house since 2016.
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