The main results of the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with President of Turkey Recep Erdogan were the decision on defrosting of the project of gas pipeline “Turkish stream” and providing NPP “Akkuyu” status of strategic investments. This is stated in the review articles of the Russian press, which publishes the website”Zagolovki”.
According to RBC, Putin and Erdogan also agreed on the resumption of the work of all the negotiation formats, is frozen at the time of the crisis, including at the level of heads of States. The publication notes that reconciliation between the heads of state took place. But disagreements over Syria, which remains the number one topic in politics for Moscow and Ankara remain.
To recover the relationship will be phased, Putin said. He talked about that in the near future can resume Charter flights, will continue negotiations on the visa regime Russia imposed visa requirements for Turkish citizens after the incident with the plane), to discuss the question of the abolition of restrictions on recruitment of Turkish workers. The Minister of economic development Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists that before the end of the year may be cancelled and an embargo on agricultural products from Turkey. Previously it was repealed the ban on the sale to the Russians of tours.
To restore bilateral relations, the leaders outlined a sequence of actions and initial tasks, writes “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”. “The priority of output to pre-crisis level”, – declared the President of the Russian Federation. For five months the volume of trade dipped by 43%. It will be hard for the resuscitation of trade and economic cooperation.
According to the Minister of economic development of Russia Alexei speaker, to restore pre-crisis trade turnover will be for one or two years, says “Kommersant”. However, as writes “RG”, Erdogan was set up very optimistic and even said that Russia and Turkey are once again beginning to go to the figure of $ 100 billion.
Russia wants to restore relations and it will do it, Putin said. Will gradually cancel the special economic measures against Turkish companies. But after the restrictions had been “certain transformation”, which should be considered. Therefore, the government is preparing the draft medium-term program of trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation for the years 2016-2019, it should take in the near future, writes “RG”.
Putin said the resumption of Charter flights to Turkey, “a matter of technique”
However, it is primarily the presidents paid attention to two projects – pipeline “Turkish stream” and NPP “Akkuyu”, says RBC. At a press conference following the meeting, Erdogan announced that Turkey is ready to implement Russia the project of the gas pipeline “Turkish stream” (in two directions) and Akkuyu NPP”, adding that to accelerate projects – “one of our objectives.” The second draft Erdogan even agreed to give the status of strategic investments with all the benefits, said, “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”.
According to “Kommersant”, separately the presidents exchanged opinions on the tourism sector: in 2014, Turkey was visited by 4.4 million Russians in 2015, and 3.6 million and for Jan-April of this year – only 97 thousand people (in the Kremlin calculated that a reduction in tourist flow from Russia in the first half of 2016 turned Turkey, the loss of 840 million dollars). Vladimir Putin also assured that soon Russia will be able to resume Charter flights to Turkey, since Erdogan has promised to take necessary security measures for Russian citizens. “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” writes that Putin has called for a speedy resumption of Charter flights “a matter of technique”.
The Syrian issue was not discussed at the first part of the negotiations, he was left on the evening round, says RBC. Recently, erdoğan claimed that the solution to the Syrian problem “is impossible to find without the involvement of Russia”. The Deputy Director of the heritage Institute, the Eugene Borawski told reporters that the positions of the two powers on this question disperse, diverge, and will diverge, but to achieve some compromise possible.
Putin and Erdogan chose to talk about the converging factors, only briefly mentioning “the famous tragedy of the su-24
“Kommersant” writes that during the joint press conference, Erdogan called Vladimir Putin “my dear friend”, “my dearest brother, appealed to the past relations and great prospects. He expressed hope that as a result of joint steps “axis of friendship” between Moscow and Ankara will be restored (some members of the Russian delegation, after hearing the phrase “axis of friendship,” smiled involuntarily).
The newspaper article also noted that the meeting, which Erdogan has described as “historic” Russian and the Turkish side was prepared very carefully. This also explains the format of the meeting in narrow format: in addition to the Russian side, Vladimir Putin was represented by only his aide for international Affairs Yuri Ushakov and Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Turkish, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Deputy Secretary General of the office of the President of Turkey Ibrahim Kalin and Minister of foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In the first year meeting the leaders of Russia and Turkey are not focused on the cause of cooling relations (the attack of the Turkish air force in the Russian military plane su-24 in Syria, which ended in the death of the Russian pilot. – Approx. NEWSru.com), says RBC. Putin at the beginning of the conversation, Erdogan said the “famous tragedy”, after which a relationship of “degraded”. Erdogan at a press conference said that negotiations take place for the first time “after the event”.
The Minister of economic development of Russia Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists that the issue of compensation for the downed su-24, contrary to expectations, were not discussed. “Where I participated in an expanded format (this theme. – Approx. NEWSru.com) is not sounded” – said the Minister. While previously the Kremlin has called the question of compensation one of the conditions for the restoration of relations, along with an apology, which Turkey still brought.
However, at the meeting in St. Petersburg, the two presidents chose on camera to talk about what brings them together, according to RBC. Putin recalled that he became “one of the first international leaders, expressed support for Turkish colleague in connection with the coup attempt. “This is our principled position: we are categorically against any attempts of unconstitutional actions”, – explained his call to Erdogan Putin.
According to Erdogan also indicated that the coup attempt accelerated the meeting: presidents outlined during the summit in China in September, but conducted before. Putin stressed that the visit of colleagues during difficult situation in Turkey confirms the focus on restoring relationships.
