Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his "victory" in the sham presidential elections and reiterated that Ankara is ready to facilitate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

"President Erdoğan congratulated President Putin on his election victory. Expressing his belief that the positive course in Turkish-Russian relations would increasingly continue in the new period, President Erdoğan stated that Türkiye stands ready to assume any facilitating role in returning to the negotiating table in Ukraine," the Directorate of Communications of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye stated.

Türkiye supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, provides it with military and political support, but at the same time maintains warm relations with Russia and opposes sanctions against the aggressor country.

Western countries have criticised Russia's sham elections as non-transparent, plagued by violations and held on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

Erdoğan periodically reiterates the position that Ankara is in favour of ending the war through negotiations and is ready to offer a platform for such "negotiations".

Recently, he said that peace plans that exclude Russia "will not yield any results".