ANAPA, June 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Russia and Turkey will manage to observe the original deadlines for building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. He expressed the certainty in a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.

Putin thanked his Turkish counterpart for the license issued by the Turkish regulator to the Russian operator.

"If we make such fast progress on other issues, we will certainly cope with our plans and commission the first unit of the Akkuyu NPP on time," Putin said.

The Russian leader phoned his Turkish counterpart from a Russian pipe-laying ship, currently involved in the operation to lay the Turkish Stream gas carrier under the Black Sea.

Akkuyu Nuclear last week obtained a 49-year power generating license. The company said it hoped for getting limited permission for building the non-nuclear part of the project, for instance, the turbine island and logistic facilities and structures this summer. The main license is expected to be issued in 2018.

Russia and Turkey in 2018 signed an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in building and operating what will become Turkey’s first-ever nuclear power plant Akkuyu. The $20 billion project envisages construction of four VVER-1200 reactors having a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts.