Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov earlier said that the Turkish president offered his apologies for the death of the pilot and the downed Russian plane.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologised on Monday for the downing of a Russian warplane in November and called for Russia and Turkey to mend a bilateral relationship that has become openly hostile over the incident.
The Kremlin said on June 27 that Putin received a letter from Erdoğan that was later confirmed by the Turkish presidency that said Ankara and Moscow had “agreed to take necessary steps to improve the relationship”.
“I once again share suffering with the family of the Russian pilot who lost his life, and would like to offer my condolence”.
The Kremlin statement said Erdogan had expressed his readiness to do everything necessary to restore the traditionally friendly relations between Turkey and Russian Federation, and also to jointly fight terrorism.
So far there was no word from the Russian authorities on ending the sanctions. The organization of the pre-burial procedures was conducted in accordance with all religious and military procedures..
Meanwhile, Turkey said it is prosecuting a Turkish citizen who allegedly shot and killed the Russian pilot as he was descending by parachute.
In addition, Erdogan expressed readiness to tackle security challenges in the region and fight terrorism together with Moscow.
Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the harassment is of such concern that Kerry has personally raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in March and has also raised it with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Meanwhile, Israeli and Turkish officials announced that the two countries reached a deal this weekend that will will reestablish diplomatic ties between the two countries, which deteriorated in 2010 after Israeli troops raided a Turkish ship headed to Gaza, killing one Turkish-American and eight Turkish activists.
Ankara said the plane had flown into Turkish airspace, which Moscow denied. Kalin said Erdogan had expressed regret and asked the family of the pilot to “excuse us”. Russia rejected the Turkish claim that the plane had violated its airspace, and responded by deploying long-range air defense missiles to its base in Syria, warning that they would destroy any target posing a threat to Russian aircraft. There, President Bashar al-Assad with Russian military support has taken the upper hand in the country’s civil war, pushing the rebel groups Turkey backs onto the defensive.
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Challands said it was likely that Erdogan thought “that the benefits of normalising relations with Russian Federation, outweighs the humiliation of saying sorry”. There was concern within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation that Moscow-Ankara conflict would result in a military confrontation between the two states.
