Erdogan, Putin to meet next month as ties restored

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Russia next month to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as part of efforts to mend Ankara-Moscow relations damaged by the downing of a Russian jet last year.

The meeting is scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg on August 9, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since bilateral ties hit a record low over the downing incident, officials said on Tuesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the date of the meeting, adding, "The agenda per se has yet to be discussed; the sides are exchanging propositions but we definitely have things to speak about. It will be the first meeting in a rather long period of time.”

He further noted that the subjects of the planned meeting were discussed during the ongoing visit of a Turkish delegation, led by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, to Moscow.

Simsek also confirmed the date while on a trip to Russia, where he met his Russian counterpart, Arkady Dvorkovich, saying it was aimed at normalizing "relations as soon as possible and at an accelerated pace".

Dvorkovich told Russian media that he had discussed several investment projects with Simsek.

Additionally, an unidentified official in Turkey said that Erdogan and Putin had agreed to meet ahead of the G20 summit in China in September.

Russia’s relations with Turkey was strained in November 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24M Fencer aircraft with two pilots aboard, claiming the fighter jet had repeatedly violated the Turkish airspace.

Moscow, however, dismissed Ankara’s claims, saying the plane was brought down in Syrian airspace, where Russia has been conducting combat sorties against Takfiri terrorists since late September 2015 upon a request by the Damascus government.

Following the incident, Moscow imposed a raft of sanctions on Ankara, including import restriction on Turkish foods, a ban on tourist travel to Turkey, an embargo on hiring Turkish citizens in Russia and a ban on Turkish organizations' activities in Russia.

In June, the Kremlin said Erdogan had apologized over the plane incident in a letter to his Russian counterpart. Ankara, however, denied the apology, saying the Turkish leader's letter had only "expressed deep regrets” over the jet downing.

In another development on Tuesday, Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev stressed that his country's embargo on Turkish food imports is unlikely to be lifted before Putin's upcoming meeting with Erdogan.

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