Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Istanbul later on Monday for talks with Turkish leaders about the conflict in Syria and ways to boost Turkish-Russian business cooperation, Radio Liberty reported.

During his first trip abroad in some two months, Putin is expected to co-chair a meeting of the Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council and hold talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish-Russian relations have lately been strained over the Syrian crisis.

Turkey has openly called for the ouster of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a Moscow ally, while Russia has opposed any outside intervention in the war in Turkey's neighbor, the report said.

Commenting on Putin's visit in a televised interview on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the two countries sometimes experienced differences of opinion, but this should not define their relationship, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

"Neither Russia nor Turkey has ever developed a Cold War strategy over these splits," he said. "No one should take serious a scenario that Turkey and Russia will experience tension over Syria," Davutoglu said.

Energy ties will be dominating Putin's landmark visit to Turkey, as the two countries bid to increase the $32 billion annual bilateral trade to an ambitious $100 billion.

Russian exports to Turkey reached $21.8 billion in the first 10 months of this year, while Turkey sold a little more than $5.5 billion worth of goods to its neighbor. As energy items account for more than 70 percent of Russian exports, Turkey mainly sells machinery, equipment and food to Russia.

There are around 3,000 Turkish companies active in Russia, according to Moscow sources. Turkish companies have constructed more than 800 buildings in Russia, employing around 100,000 locals. Some 3.5 million Russian tourists have visited Turkey this year.

Ahead of Putin's trip, the Kremlin rejected reports that the 60-year-old Russian president is suffering from a serious back problem or other health issues.