Kremlin-Ready For Talks; Kyiv Must Realise 'New Territorial Realities'

Wires carrying comments from the Kremlin following President Vladimir Putin's call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier today (see 0951GMT bullet). Kremlin says that Putin told Erdogan that Russia was ready for dialogue on Ukraine, but that Kyiv must take into account the "new territorial realities", referring to Russia's annexation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts in 2022.

• Kremlin also states that Putin "stressed the priority of creating a regional gas distribution centre in Turkey".
• The call comes a day after Bulgaria signed a deal with Turkey to access the latter's LNG network for the next 13 years. The deal should provide for around half of Bulgaria's natural gas requirements.
• Perhaps more importantly, the deal will open another path for LNG into the EU. Bloomberg reports, "Previously, Bulgaria’s shortest way to access to LNG was via Greece, where buyers have to compete for berthing slots under European Union rules.Turkey, outside the EU but connected to it by pipeline, isn’t bound by those rules and has capacity to spare."
• This in turn could reduce the impact of Russia restricting pipeline gas supply to southeastern Europe in the future should it seek to put pressure on these nations' governments.