On the 30 of November Russian President Vladimir Putin had a 30-minute offstage appointment with the United States leader Barak Obama, but refused to meet the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the World Climate Summit 2015 in Paris. Russia-Turkey relations remain strained since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border.
On the 30 of November Russian President Vladimir Putin had a 30-minute offstage appointment with the United States leader Barak Obama, but refused to meet the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the World Climate Summit 2015 in Paris. Russia-Turkey relations remain strained since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border.
British ‘The Telegraph’ reports on Russian President Vladimir Putin to refuse to meet Turkish president in Paris during climate change talks as relations between the countries soured after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. Mr. Erdogan called for face-to-face talks with Mr. Putin last week as the two countries traded blows over who was responsible for the incident.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmytry Pescov claimed that no meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan was planned but the one was held with the United States President Barak Obama on the sidelines of the summit.
"No meeting with Erdogan is planned. There is no discussion of such a meeting," reports ‘The Telegraph’ on the Russian president's spokesman’s words.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to meet Putin, but the USA President expressed to the Russian leader his regret over the death of the Russian pilot during a 30-minute meet on the sidelines of the climate discussions, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said to Reuters. Obama especially emphasized the necessity for de-escalation between Russia and Turkey.
Turkey and Russia need to "avoid steps that risk further difficulties between the two countries, and frankly, further impediments to the type of progress that we need to make together to resolve the situation in Syria," Rhodes told reporters in Paris.
Yet as a new facet of ongoing conflict Vladimir Putin earlier noted that Russia has grounds to suspect that Russian aircraft was downed to secure illegal oil deliveries from Syria to Turkey, reports TASS. "We have recently received additional reports that confirm that that oil from ISIL-controlled [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - former name of the Islamic State terrorist organization] territories is delivered to the territory of Turkey on an industrial scale," ‘TASS’ quotes Putin. Mr. Erdogan responded that he is ready to resign if claims about Turkey's buying oil from the Islamic State terrorist group are confirmed.
A Russian warplane Sukhoi Su-24 was shot down on Tuesday, November 24, near the Syrian border that immediately entailed a sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and Ankara.
Last week, as the war of words continued, Russia said it would stop visa-free travel from Turkish citizens from January 2016 while Turkey advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Russia, says ‘The Telegraph’.
