Erdogan to visit Russia to restore ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia on August 9 for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin since Moscow and Ankara mended ties damaged by the downing of a Russian jet in November, Turkish officials said Tuesday.

“The ambassador has informed us that our dear president [ Erdogan] has confirmed that he will be in St. Petersburg on the 9th [ of August],” Russian news agencies quoted Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek as saying.

An official in Turkey confirmed the date, saying that Erdogan and Putin had agreed to meet ahead of the G20 summit in China in September.

Simsek is the highest- ranking Turkish official to visit Russia since the November downing of the Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border sparked a crisis in relations.

He said he was in Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich in an effort to “normalize the situation and our relations as soon as possible and at an accelerated pace.”

Dvorkovich told Russian media that he had discussed a range of investment projects with Simsek, including the possible resumption of talks on the TurkStream project to pipe Russian natural gas to Turkey and southeastern Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the agenda for Putin’s meeting with Erdogan had yet to be finalized but that the two leaders have “things to talk about.”