VIENNA, June 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry views the letter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with apologies for the shootdown of the Russian bomber in November last year as a step in a right direction to normalize bilateral ties, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov told TASS on Tuesday.

"This is a step in a right direction," Meshkov said.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin saying sorry for shooting down the Su-24 jet and stressing "readiness to make every effort to restore traditionally friendly relations between Russia and Turkey."