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Planned Putin-Erdogan summit in Russia cancelled, says Kremlin

Ties between Moscow and Ankara sharply deteriorated since downing of Russian jet.

Moscow: A bilateral summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan planned for December 15 in St. Petersburg will now not happen, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

The summit was agreed upon during a meeting between the two men in Turkey on the sidelines of a G-20 summit last month which predated Ankara's shooting down of a Russian military jet near the Syrian-Turkish border.

"It won't happen, it's not planned," Peskov said of the summit when asked about it by reporters on Monday.

Ties between Moscow and Ankara have sharply deteriorated since the downing of the Russian jet on Nov.24, a move described by Putin as "a dastardly stab in the back".

Moscow has imposed economic sanctions on Turkey, and Putin, clearly referring to Turkish forces, ordered his own armed forces last Friday to "shoot down immediately any target" which threatens Russian troops or infrastructure in Syria.

( Source : reuters )
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