Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Putin Meet at Critical Sochi Summit

Vladimir Putin met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Sochi. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Europe should be grateful to Turkey for the uninterrupted flow of natural gas from Russia.

Vladimir Putin spoke at the start of a four-hour meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Russian Sanatorium in Sochi. Expressing his great pleasure to welcome President Tayyip Erdogan in Russia, Russian leader Putin said that they had agreed to meet today in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Vladimir Putin said that prior to today's meeting, a delegation of the Russian government in charge of the economy visited Turkey at the invitation of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where the delegations discussed all important aspects of bilateral cooperation. Underlining that the volume of trade between the two countries increased by 57 percent last year, Russian leader Putin said that even in the first months of this year, including May, the volume of trade doubled. Reminding the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant and energy projects, Putin continued his words with the following statements: "I would also like to note that the TurkStream gas pipeline, the construction of which we completed some time ago, has become one of the most important pipelines to deliver Russian natural gas to Europe. TurkStream, unlike other lines that deliver natural gas in other directions, continues to operate regularly and completely. It not only delivers natural gas to Turkey, but also to consumers in Europe. Europe should be grateful to Turkey for the uninterrupted flow of gas from Russia." The Russian leader added that they export oil, coal and natural gas to Turkey without any problems. "This is a very sensitive issue, especially for developing countries. These countries are on the verge of serious problems with the delivery of food products and fertilizers. For all these countries, such decisions taken with your participation are important. I thank you for this."