UPDATE: Putin orders to start normalization of Moscow–Ankara relations

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MOSCOW, Jun 29 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed the government that he has decided to start normalizing relations with Turkey, he said at a meeting with the government on Wednesday, after a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I want to inform you that after the letter by the Turkish president to us, it was decided to start a process of normalization of relations with the Turkish partners,” Putin said.

The Kremlin issued a statement: “Vladimir Putin stated that the message received from the president of Turkey created preconditions to leave behind the crisis stage in bilateral relations and begin the process of resuming joint efforts in international and regional problems and development of all areas of the Russian–Turkish relations. ”

Putin said he will order the government to start negotiations with the Turkish authorities to abolish restrictions of visits to Turkey by Russian tourists.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey will meet on July 1 in Sochi in order to discuss the opportunities to pacify the Syrian conflict and the bilateral relations.

Igor Morozov, a member of the international affairs committee of the Federation Council, the parliament’s supreme chamber, told PRIME that tourist flow from Russia to Turkey could be restored this season. He also said that works on gas pipeline Turkish Stream and other joint economic projects can restart in a month.

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