Turkey: Erdogan issues warning to Putin as he wades into Ukraine fears – ‘Not realistic!’ | World | News

The 67-year-old leader was speaking to Turkish reporters in Albania and called the former Soviet republic a “powerful” country with international friends. He said: “You cannot handle these things by saying ‘I will invade something, I will take it’.

“I don’t see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a realistic option because it is not an ordinary country. Ukraine is a powerful country.”

Erdogan, who backs Ukraine’s NATO aspirations said he has always opposed Russia’s approach to Ukraine, criticizing its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

He added that Russia “should review the state of affairs in the world and its own state of affairs before deciding to take this step” to invade.

He said: “We need to rip war out of political history.”

Turkey’s supply of combat drones to Ukraine has drawn the wrath of Russia, which fears they could be used by Kyiv in its years-long conflict in two regions of the Moscow-backed separatist east.

Turkey has countered by saying it cannot be held responsible for how the drones are used by countries after they are sold.

NATO member Turkey has good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, but opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

READ MORE:Horrendous paedophile dies after fight over ‘miserable’ life in jail