Putin declares gas discount for Turkey, issues warning on South Stream

Turkey and Russia have signed fresh documents in a bid to boost already growing ties. The highlight of Russian President Putin's press conference with his Turkish counterpart Erdoğan was his announcement of six percent discount in natural gas prices for exports to Turkey, as well as his warning for South Stream pipeline. On the other hand, the two leaders did not refrain from voicing their disagreement over Syria Turkey and Russia have signed fresh documents in a bid to boost already growing economic, energy and trade ties, reiterating their mutual ambitious target of augmenting the trade volume to $100 billion by the year 2020.  

Led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin and with senior officials from both sides, the lengthy Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council meeting produced key agreements in the fields of energy, banking, industry, nuclear energy training, justice and trade, in line with both side's intention to strengthen and diversify economic ties. "This visit of Putin is a clear sign of the progress of the relations between Turkey and Russia," Erdoğan said in a joint press conference Dec. 1. "Our political will to increase our trade volume to $100 billion is still valid." 

Erdoğan said they studied in detail the pace of works for the $20 billion Akkuyu nuclear plant investment in a bid to speed up the accomplishment of the project. The two presidents discussed the ongoing natural gas deal between the two countries, as Turkey is the second largest market for Russia. 

Putin said, for his part, that Turkey is Russia's second best trade partner after Germany. "Regarding our energy cooperation with our Turkish partners, we will make a six percent discount from January 1...