埃尔多安开始访问俄罗斯

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will begin his visit to Russia Tuesday and meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. He said he hopes his trip to St. Petersburg would open a new page in bilateral relations.

Moscow says the two leaders will discuss resuming Turkish food exports to Russia. Moscow said it is planning to eliminate economic sanctions on Ankara by stages. But Russia said the meeting will not result in signing of any agreements.

The meeting will also discuss compensation over Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet, which happened near the Syrian border last November. Since then, Russia has imposed trade sanctions on Turkey. That caused the number of Russian tourists visiting the country to fall by 87 percent in the first half of 2016.