Putin, Erdogan to meet on sidelines of summit on Syria

Russian and Turkish leaders, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will hold a bilateral meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of the summit on Syria in Istanbul involving Russia, Turkey, France and Germany, Russian diplomat Andrei Buravov said.

At the moment, political dialogue between Moscow and Ankara has reached a high level, Buravov, who is Deputy Director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a conference "Russia and Turkey: strategic areas of multi-faceted partnership."

"This is confirmed first of all by active dynamics of contacts between our countries’ leaders," the diplomat said. "As we know, these days our presidents will meet in a multilateral format. On its sidelines, a separate bilateral meeting between Putin and Erdogan is expected to be held."

"Despite permanent contacts, our leaders always have something to discuss. This contributes to fostering Russian-Turkish relations," Buravov noted.

Russia and Turkey develop strategic energy projects, most notably the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in cooperation with Russia. An ambitious task has been set to complete the first unit’s construction by 2023. "All efforts are made to fulfill this," he said.