ERBIL - Russia has plans to strengthen military relations with Turkey despite sanctions by the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
The Russian foreign minister made the comments after receiving his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Sochi as Ankara and Moscow sought to expand cooperation in commerce, energy, culture, and tourism.
"We have confirmed our mutual intention to develop military ties with Turkey. We appreciate as President Putin has repeatedly stressed, the attitude of our Turkish colleagues towards further interaction in this field, despite continued illegitimate pressure from Washington," Lavrov said.
Turkish FM Cavusoglu, in return, pointed out that "today we'll also evaluate how we can improve our cooperation on the regional issues that you've already outlined."
This comes while the US has already announced sanctions on Turkey over the country's purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system.