Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could visit Turkey on April 27 to attend the opening of the country’s first nuclear power unit, built by Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom.
“Perhaps there is a possibility that Putin will arrive on April 27, or we can connect to the inauguration ceremony online and take the first step to Akkuyu,” Erdogan said in a TV commentary on the private broadcaster ATV.
Turkey will load the first nuclear fuel into Unit 1 of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant and formally designate it as a nuclear facility on April 27, Erdogan said in an earlier statement on Wednesday.
The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Turkish reports of Putin’s plans to visit Turkey.
The Kremlin said on Saturday that Putin and Erdogan discussed in a telephone conversation the successful implementation of joint strategic projects in the energy sector, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
A $20 billion, 4,800 megawatt (MW) project to build four reactors in the Mediterranean city of Akkuyu will allow Turkey to join a small club of countries with civilian nuclear power.
Earlier, Türkiye announced plans to launch the first reactor at Akkuyu in 2023.
Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in connection with alleged war crimes in Ukraine, angering the Kremlin. But Turkey is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, therefore, it will not take any measures to arrest the leader of the Russian Federation if he appears on the territory of the country.
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