SOCHI, September 4. /TASS/. Russia was among the first to respond and offer help to Turkey when a devastating earthquake occurred in the country and forest fires were raging, President Vladimir Putin said during talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"You have mentioned firefighting. I want to say that after the horrific earthquake the Turkish people encountered, we were among the first to lend a hand to the Turkish nation, to help the ordinary people affected," the head of state said. "The same goes for fighting fires," Putin noted.

"All this is evidence of the good nature of Russian-Turkish relations, their high level, and this permeates all branches of our interaction," the Russian leader stressed.