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Hangzhou, China • Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayypip Erdogan have met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit to discuss both Syria and improving their countries' frayed relations.
Russian news agencies Sunday cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that both countries' delegations met, then the meeting continued between the leaders one on one with their foreign ministers present.
Russia and Turkey suffered a roughly seven-month rupture in relations after Turkey shot down a Russian bomber on its border with Syria in November just as tensions mounted over Syria, where Moscow and Ankara back opposing sides in the civil war. Relations began improving in late June after Erdogan apologized for the plane's downing.
Russian and Turkish officials discussed the outlook for lifting Russia's ban on Turkish food imports as part of their rapprochement process on Sunday, Peskov said.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his country is determined to provide its great friend and ally Britain with "all the support and assistance" it needs as it negotiates its exit from the E.U. Turnbull spoke ahead of a formal meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G-20 economic summit in China. May said she was grateful to Turnbull, who had offered to discuss a free-trade agreement with Britain shortly after she became leader in July after the British people narrowly voted to leave the E.U. in a referendum.
May said she didn't want Britain to become inward-looking. "We want to be even more outward-looking around the whole of the world, and Australia, with our long-standing ties and our close relationship, will be one of the first countries we will be looking to."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she sees the possibility of a "positive outcome" to negotiations between Turkey and the European Union on a visa waiver for Turks, but that it will still take weeks of work.
The offer to scrap visas for Turks entering the E.U. was one incentive for Turkey to agree to a deal to curb the flow of migrants across the Aegean Sea.