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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the trade turnover between Russia and Turkey doubled in the first five months of 2022.

During his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Putin said that "It is enough to remind that our trade turnover increased by 57% in the last year, and it surged twofold in the first months of this year, up to May inclusive. We have large-scale projects."

Putin added that the two countries are in the process of collaborating on multiple projects, including the Akkuyu nuclear power plant which was launched on May 12, 2010, by the governments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey. 

The remarks were delivered in Sochi earlier in the day for Erdogan's one-day working visit at Putin's invitation. The situations in both Syria and Ukraine were discussed.

Yesterday, the Kremlin urged Ankara not to "destabilize" Syria with a military offensive, to which Turkey's president has for months threatened to launch an operation against what it describes as Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

The two leaders previously met in Teheran on July 19 during a trilateral meeting with Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

Hence it is the second time both leaders meet in less than a month.

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