In a phone call, President Vladimir Putin thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for assistance in the prisoner swap of US Marine Trevor Reed and Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at an airport in Turkey on Wednesday.
Erdogan told Putin that Turkey's role in the exchange is not only a sign of prioritizing peace, dialogue and cooperation but also meaningful in terms of mediation efforts.
He also reiterated Turkey's readiness to take the initiative to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and to mediate toward the road to peace.
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 on drug smuggling charges and extradited to the US, where he was serving a 20-year prison term.
