Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the Russian resort Sochi on Friday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two since bilateral relations nosedived after Turkey downed a Russian jet last November.

The meeting took place at the Black Sea Economic Cooperation meeting (BSEC), Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The last time when the ministers met was on Dec. 3, 2015 at the 22nd OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

In addition, the Kremlin said on July 1 that Putin and Erdoğan could meet before the G20 summit in China in September.

"It looks like now there will be a month or more of pretty intense contacts (with Turkey on restoring ties)," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 

Meanwhile, Çavuşoğlu has also said Putin and Erdoğan could meet in August in Sochi.

Moscow invited Ankara to the meeting on June 23, marking a potential warming of ties after seven strained months.

Çavuşoğlu accepted the invitation four days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his "regret and sorrow" over the jet downing incident in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Source : MENA