Russia is grateful to Turkey for its readiness to protect the health and safety of Russian tourists. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday at a press conference following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
"We thanked our Turkish partners for assuring us that they would take all necessary measures to ensure both the health and safety of Russian citizens, including tourists. This is especially important in the context of the resumption of passenger flights," the minister said.
"Here - in Antalya - in the place of attraction of Russian citizens going on vacation, we have underlined our determination to continue creating all conditions for the development of tourist exchanges", added the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Regular and charter flights between Russia and Turkey resumed on June 22. Flights to this country are possible from 32 Russian cities. Russians do not need a visa to visit Turkey, but need a certificate with a negative result of PCR-test for Covid or a certificate of complete vaccination against coronavirus.
A regular meeting of the Russian-Turkish mixed intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation will be held in Moscow in the near future.
Situation in Ukraine
Lavrov also discussed with Cavusoglu the situation in Ukraine, the settlement in the Middle East and a number of other problematic issues.
"We checked assessments, exchanged views [with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu] on the situation in the Middle East settlement, in Central Asia, Afghanistan, on the situation in Ukraine, in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Black Sea region," Lavrov said.
Eliminating terrorism in Syria
Moscow and Turkey, the Russian minister added, spoke in favor of completely eliminating terrorism in Syria and stressed the importance of providing humanitarian aid to all Syrians.
"We spoke in favor of the complete eradication of terrorism on Syrian territory and stressed the importance of providing comprehensive humanitarian assistance to all Syrians without exception," the foreign minister pointed out.
Normalization of Baku and Yerevan interaction
Moscow and Ankara intend to jointly promote the normalization of practical cooperation between Baku and Yerevan, Lavrov added.
"We have agreed to continue to closely coordinate our efforts to assist Baku and Yerevan in addressing practical issues of normalization of relations with a focus on strengthening confidence-building measures," the foreign minister said.
Istanbul Canal
According to him, the plans on the construction of the Istanbul Canal do not affect the parameters of the presence of foreign vessels in the Black Sea.
"We are satisfied with the cooperation with our Turkish friends and colleagues regarding the implementation of the Montreux Convention," he said. - "Today, we have recorded during the negotiations that in no way will the plans for the construction of the Istanbul Canal affect the parameters of the presence of military fleets of foreign powers in the Black Sea."
On Saturday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of construction of the Istanbul shipping channel between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea, bypassing the Bosphorus. The project was announced by Erdogan in 2011.
It is expected that the canal will be able to handle about 160-180 ships a day, including tankers with a net tonnage of up to 300 thousand tons. Today 43 thousand ships a year pass through the difficult for navigation Bosporus. According to estimates of some experts, in Turkey in the next 10-15 years, the flow of ships through the Bosporus may exceed 70 thousand a year.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS