Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to hold telephone talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday during which he may address the situation in Ukraine. The statement came from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Riga, where the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers is taking place, TASS reports.

"We are in contact with both sides [Russia and Ukraine] and are in favor of de-escalation. Recently I held talks with [Russian FM Sergey] Lavrov and [Ukrainian FM Dmytro] Kuleba. On Friday, our president is going to hold talks with President Putin," the Turkish FM said in response to a reporter's request to comment on the current tension between Russia and Ukraine.

Turkey believes that sanctions against Russia will not “solve the problem” and will not help Ukraine, added Cavusoglu.

"We believe that sanctions will not solve the problem; it did not solve in the past. We have seen how sanctions have been imposed on a number of countries, sometimes we ourselves have become the target of sanctions, but that does not solve the problem. If, for example, we choose restraint instead of sanctions, it must be purposeful. But we, as Turkey, believe in the right balance between restraint and dialogue. So, it will not be possible to help Ukraine or any other country by imposing sanctions alone," the Turkish FM said.