Only Turkish Leadership Can Normalize Ties With Russia - Kremlin

The Turkish idea to create a joint working group with Russia to normalize the Moscow-Ankara relations will not have any effect on resolving the issue as only the country’s leadership can do this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was willing to resume relations with Ankara despite last year's downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber by the Turkish Air Force over Syria, but called on Turkey to act first to mend ties. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu proposed Monday to form a joint working group with Russia in a bid to normalize the Ankara-Moscow relations.

"President Putin outlined our position rather explicitly. He said that some contacts aiming to look for solutions to normalize the relations were of course taking place, but no working group could resolve this issue," Peskov told reporters.

The spokesman added that it was up to Ankara to resolve this situation.

"Only the Turkish leadership can do this, Moscow expects it to take the steps mentioned by president Putin," he stressed.

Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated after the downing of the Russian military aircraft by a Turkish fighter jet in Syria on November 24, 2015. Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey in response to what Russian President Vladimir Putin classified as a "stab in the back."

Russia's retaliatory measures against Ankara include, in particular, restrictions on the activities of Turkish organizations in Russia, an embargo on Russian employers hiring Turkish citizens and a ban on certain food imports since January 1, 2016.