SOCHI, September 4. /TASS/. The Defense Ministers of Russia and Turkey Sergey Shoigu and Yasar Guler and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan are among the participants of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the Kremlin website, the expanded circle of Russian delegates includes Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aides Maxim Oreshkin and Yury Ushakov, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, Central Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Director Dmitry Shugaev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev and Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation.

The Turkish delegation consists of 14 people. In addition to Turkey’s defense and foreign ministers, it includes, among others, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Minister of Industry and Technology Fatih Kacir, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumakli, Trade Minister Omer Bolat, National Intelligence Organization Director Ibrahim Kalin, Director of Directorate of Communications Fahretti·n Altun, Presidential Advisers Haluk Gorgun and Akif Cagatay Kilic, and Governor of Turkey’s Central Bank Hafize Gaye Erkan.

The talks are held at the Rus resort complex in Sochi. This is the first meeting between the two presidents following Turkey’s presidential election and Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal.