Turkish PM's visit to Russia may provide basis for Presidents' meeting

Earlier in the day, following a meeting with Yildirim, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been scheduled for the first half of 2017.

"We have a lot of joint work at the moment. I hope that your visit will be taken as a basis of our forthcoming meeting with the president of the Turkish republic and holding of the summit at the level," Putin said at a meeting with the Turkish prime minister.

The Russian leader asked Yildirim to deliver Putin's greetings to Erdogan and thanked him for signing the law on ratification of the agreement on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project.

Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated after the downing of a Russian military plane by a Turkish fighter jet in Syria on November 24, 2015. Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey in response to what Putin then described as a "stab in the back." A thaw in relations between Moscow and Ankara began in June following Turkey's apology to Russia.