Russian and Turkish leaders seek ways to amend damaged bilateral diplomatic ties at St. Petersburg summit
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, 09/08/2016 – After nearly eight-month hiatus caused by Ankara’s barbaric attack on the Russian military jetfighter returning from anti-terrorist bombing mission in Syria, the presidents of Russia and Turkey in St. Petersburg to discuss ways to restore the seriously damaged bilateral relations between the two countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he intends to discuss with the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan a whole range of bilateral issues, including the fight against terrorism and economic ties, which had been put on hold as the Kremlin slapped a raft of punitive economic sanctions against Ankara for its role and handling the downing of the Russian jetfighter late last year.
From his side, Erdogan said that he hopes to restore and expand bilateral cooperation with
Apart from President Putin, the other members of the official Russian delegation at the St. Petersburg meeting were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin’s Foreign Policy Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, Alexander Novak, the energy minister and co-head of the Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission on Trade Economic Cooperation, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, Russian Army General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Alexander Lavrentyev, the Kremlin’s Special Presidential Representative in charge of Syrian issues, amongst others.
The Turkish delegation at the
Also present were the Turkish agriculture, transport and culture and tourism ministers as well as the Turkish Ambassador to
The talks between the two presidents in the so-called “narrow delegation discussion format” lasted about two hours. Thereafter, the parties discussed the issues of restoration and expansion of bilateral cooperation in an expanded delegates format.
By Christopher Ebohon
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