Strengthening cooperation in the areas of transport, agriculture and infrastructure was agreed by the leaders of Russia and Turkey during a roughly four-hour meeting they held today in Sochi on the Black Sea, amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. against Moscow who remain.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Sochi today to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. His visit was the first visit by a NATO leader to Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

Recall that Putin and Erdogan also had contacts on July 19 in Tehran.

During today’s meeting in Sochi, the leaders of the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of transport, agriculture and construction. They also agreed that Turkey should start paying in rubles for part of the Russian natural gas it imports, the Russian side notes.

Otherwise, the leadership of the two countries made it clear that they were going together, in cooperation, to resist “all” “terrorist” organizations operating in Syria.

The hour-long meeting between Putin and Erdogan ended without joint statements or a press conference, and the Western media (Financial Times, Washington Post) wondered if Ankara was going to help the Russians bypass the sanctions imposed by the West because of the war in Ukraine.

“Economic ties between Russia and Turkey have taken on additional significance for both countries as Ankara desperately seeks foreign investment and Moscow seeks ways to circumvent Western sanctions that have largely cut it off from the global financial system,” they note in their analysis. according to the Financial Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today welcomed the opportunity to sign an agreement to strengthen economic cooperation with Turkey, welcoming his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sochi.

“I hope that today we will be able to sign a memorandum on strengthening our trade and economic ties,” Putin said at the beginning of the meeting with Erdogan. However, in hindsight, it was not clear whether everything that the Russian president had in mind had been signed.

Earlier today, the Russian president thanked his Turkish counterpart for his efforts, which led to an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv on the export of Ukrainian grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

“… the problem with the supply of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports has been resolved. Deliveries have already begun…,” the Russian leader told Erdogan.

However, around the same time, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield said that the threat of hunger and food insecurity remained for tens of millions of people, mostly in Africa, under the responsibility of Russia.

Today, from Sochi, Vladimir Putin will also emphasize Ankara’s role in sending Russian gas to Europe via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. “European partners should be grateful to Turkey for ensuring uninterrupted supplies of Russian natural gas,” Putin said, without mentioning, however, a significant reduction in the volume of Russian gas transported to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

The Turkish President, in turn, stressed at the beginning of today’s meeting with his Russian counterpart that he hopes to open a new “page” in Russia’s relations with Turkey.

The Turkish leader described the talks between the delegations of the two countries as “very productive”, especially in relation to trade and tourism.

R. T. Erdogan also said that it is important that the Akyu nuclear power plant, which is being built by the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom in southern Turkey, is completed on time.

According to Reuters, FT