Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday to discuss regional security issues, economy and tourism.
The main topics during the two-and-a-half hour meeting were import restrictions on Turkish companies, the economy, energy and the situation in Syria.
Both countries have set aside their differences in Syria and have worked together to bring a ceasefire and a political solution to the war-ravaged country.
Turkey launched its military campaign in Syria known as Operation Euphrates Shield in August, to clear its border with Syria of terror groups, while Russia has had an active military presence in Syria since 2015.
The first step towards a closer cooperation between the two countries were taken back in January, when Russia stated that its jets had joined with Turkish warplanes to bomb Daesh militants in the northern Syrian town of al Bab.
“We are very glad that our inter-governmental relations are being restored and quite rapidly,” Putin told Erdogan.
Both the leaders addressed a press conference following their meeting.
TRT World’s Alican Ayanlar brings us the latest from Moscow.
Russian sanctions
Erdogan said he expects Moscow would fully lift economic sanctions against Ankara.
Putin said that Russia would ‘very soon’ remove visa and work permit sanctions against Turkey.
”The ban on Turkish firms will be removed as soon as possible. A political decision was taken in this regard. It will be implemented very soon,” he added.
Moscow imposed sanctions on Ankara following the downing of a Russian jet over the Turkish-Syria border in November 2015. Russia relaxed some of the sanctions last summer following a meeting between the two leaders in August 2016.
The delegation from Turkey included various ministers who took part in the High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council to strengthen relations between the two countries.
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