Russia will phase out sanctions against Turkey step-by-step but the priority is to bring bilateral ties between the two countries to their pre-crisis level, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
Putin, after meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan, said the talks will have an important bearing on the future of Russia-Turkish relations.
Russia and Turkey look to rebuild ties as their leaders meet for the first time since Ankara downed one of Moscow’s warplanes in November.
Erdogan’s visit to Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey’s relations with the West.
“Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey,” Putin said after the two leaders shook hands.
Erdogan, who has said the trip represents a “new milestone”, told Putin that ties had entered a “very different phase” and thanked the Kremlin leader for his backing after the coup attempt.
The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 over the Syrian border last fall saw a furious Putin slap economic sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words with Erdogan that seemed to irrevocably damage burgeoning ties.
But in late June, Putin surprisingly accepted a letter expressing regret over the incident from Erdogan as an apology and quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of package holidays to Turkey and signalled Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction firms.
Now in the wake of the failed July 15 coup attempt, there are fears in Western capitals that NATO-member Turkey could draw even closer to Moscow – with Erdogan bluntly making it clear he feels let down by the United States and the European Union.
Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt and shares none of the scruples of EU leaders about the ensuing crackdown.
In the latest sign of rocky relations with the West, Turkey’s justice minister on Tuesday warned that the United States will “sacrifice relations” unless it extradites Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for the failed coup.
