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Ankara welcomes possibility of Putin attending Russia-Turkey football friendly

Earlier, the Dogan News Agency and several local mass media said Putin might arrive in Antalya on August 31 to watch the Russia-Turkey football friendly

© Mikhail Klimentiev/TASS

ANKARA, August 24. /TASS/. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu believes that if Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the friendly match between the national football teams in Antalya on August 31, it might benefit bilateral relations.

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"Turkish media and social networks’ contributors mentioned the possibility that Putin might be present at the match as a spectator, but at this point no decision has been made on that score," Cavusoglu said in a statement issued in Ankara on Wednesday. The foreign minister believes that "attending the match with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be a positive event and it would greatly contribute to the normalization of Turkish-Russian relations."

Earlier, the Dogan News Agency and several local mass media said Putin might arrive in Antalya on August 31 to watch the Russia-Turkey football friendly. There has been no official confirmation so far.

The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the media in late July that Putin might be present at the match. However, a trip to Turkey was not on Putin’s schedule at that time.

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