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Turkey Should Start With Apologies, Kremlin Says

Turkish President Recep Erdogan

The Kremlin is waiting for an official apology from Ankara for downing its warplane before Russian-Turkish ties can improve, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russia wanted compensation for the incident, which took place in November last year.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan had said in a statement earlier in the day that Ankara wanted to restore ties with Russia but didn't understand which steps Moscow wanted them to take, Reuters reported.

The Kremlin rejected proposals by Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday to create a joint working group on the problem.

Peskov told reporters that while he didn't consider himself able to advise to the president of another country, he wanted to remind Erdogan that the Kremlin expected an apology, a full explanation of the incident, compensation for the downed SU-24 and compensation to the family of the deceased pilot, RIA Novosti reported.

“We are really sorry that Turkey is yet to take any steps on this,” Peskov added, according to the RBC news website.

Ties between Russia and Turkey have deteriorated considerably since the downing of a Russian SU-24 by Turkey on Nov. 24 last year. The incident caused outrage in Russia and was followed by a package of economic sanctions imposed on Turkey by the Kremlin.

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