Turkey's President Erdogan in St Petersburg to reset Russia ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to hold talks in St Petersburg with President Vladimir Putin and says he wants to "reset" ties with Russia.

Erdogan in St Petersburg

It is Mr Erdogan's first foreign visit since an attempted coup last month.
Relations between the two countries were plunged into crisis last year when Turkey shot down a Russian military jet on the Syrian border.

The visit comes as Turkey's ties with the West have cooled over criticism of a crackdown on alleged coup-plotters.
Before leaving Turkey, Mr Erdogan referred to President Putin as his "friend" and said he wanted to open a new page in relations with Russia.

"This visit strikes me as a new milepost in our bilateral relations, starting again from a clean slate," Mr Erdogan told Russia's Tass news agency.
Relations between the two countries were badly damaged when Turkey shot down the military jet last November, leading Russia to impose trade sanctions and suspend Russian package tours to Turkey.