Spotlight: Erdogan's visit to Russia unlikely to prompt U-turn in relations, Russian experts

The upcoming visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia is unlikely to bring a dramatic turnaround in bilateral relations strained by the downing of a Russian warplane last November, Russian analysts say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet Erdogan in Russia' s second largest city of St. Petersburg on August 9, officials from both sides have confirmed.

Alexei Mukhin, director general of the Russian think tank Political Information Center, told Xinhua that he does not expect any "significant changes" in Russian-Turkish relations in the near future.

He is echoed by Amur Gajiyev, a research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The personal meeting between Putin and Erdogan will take place after both sides have made many rather harsh statements, so it will be hard for both leaders to forget everything and start from scratch," said Gajiyev.

Putin, calling the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by the Turkish air force near the Turkish-Syrian border a "stab in the back," has imposed a range of economic sanctions against Ankara.

Russia only agreed to restore ties with Turkey after Erdogan sent his apologies last month to Putin over the death of the Su-24 pilot.

Senior Russian and Turkish government officials met in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss resuming trade and investment programs ahead of the meeting between Putin and Erdogan.

Turkey' s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said it is both necessary and possible for Turkey and Russia to normalize bilateral relations quickly.

Russian experts, however, do not expect a breakthrough.

"It is impossible to talk about a radical change in Turkey's foreign policy, but changes there will be," Gjiyev said.

He said Turkey may be ready to make some concessions as it is apparently willing to expand cooperation, but it is difficult to judge how sincere its intentions are.

On the other hand, the analyst said he views the prospects of relations between Moscow and Ankara with "cautious optimism" as the many problems that arose since their ties worsened need a solution.

"Erdogan's outstretched hand in fact only shows that we have started a very long and sophisticated game with this oriental figure," Mukhin said.

In his opinion, the Russian leadership "will be smiling at Erdogan, but will follow its own way" and will make the best use of the weakened position of the Turkish president in terms of his relations with the European Union and the United States. Endi