ANKARA, August 6. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that at his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 5 they reached an agreement to start using the ruble in bilateral trade, the TRT television channel reported on Saturday citing the Turkish leader’s statements to presidential pool journalists upon his return from Sochi.

"At the meeting in Sochi with Honorable Mr. Putin, we agreed on the ruble as a [monetary] unit in trade. As we are going to trade in rubles, it will definitely be a substantial source of income for both Turkey and Russia. And there is the Mir card. Five of our banks are currently taking it. There are significant moves in this issue, which will eventually improve conditions for the stay of Russian tourists. They will be able to make purchases and pay for hotels. During the visit, the governors of our countries’ central banks held talks," Erdogan said without elaborating on the agenda of the meeting.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters after the talks between the Russian and Turkish Presidents that they had touched upon gas exports to Turkey and agreed to partially pay for them in rubles. Thus, Novak said, Russia and Turkey are announcing a gradual transition to paying in national currencies.

Novak added that the Russian and Turkish presidents had also focused on monetary and financial relations.

"We talked about the financial banking sector - on which big agreements were also reached - so that our commercial companies, our citizens can make transactions during their tourist trips and exchange money as part of trade turnover," Novak said.