Putin, Erdogan 'Turn the Page' Ahead of August 9 Meeting in St. Petersburg

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 9 in St. Petersburg, where "no shortage of topics" is envisioned on the agenda, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

"As such, the agenda has not yet been discussed, there is an exchange of various proposals. This will be the first meeting for quite a long time, the first after the two leaders have managed to turn the page, so there will be no shortage of topics for discussion, we can say with confidence," Peskov told reporters.

In late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by a Turkish jet in November and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.

By apologizing for the incident, Ankara fulfilled Moscow’s condition for restoring the long-term partnership between the two countries. It was also noted in the letter that a legal case has been opened against a Turkish citizen suspected of involvement in the death of the downed plane’s pilot, which was another precondition for the normalization of relations.

Putin subsequently lifted the ban on charter flights to Turkey and instructed the government to negotiate a revival of trade with Ankara.