Russian Foreign Ministry: Russia-Turkey cooperation to further expand

Moscow is counting on further improvement of mutually beneficial cooperation with Ankara and believes that Turkiye and Russia can withstand Western pressure, Director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Yuri Pilipson said.

"Turkiye is a major power, an influential regional player. In recent years, this country has been pursuing an independent trajectory on most issues in order to ensure, first of all, its own national interests. Such a principled approach, as already noted, contributes to the development of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation. Of course, we look forward to its further improvement," the diplomat said.

He specified that Russia-Turkiye cooperation has been developing particularly actively in recent years, with trade in 2022 amounting to over $62 billion, RIA Novosti reported.

He noted that not everyone in the world likes such effective interaction, as many in the West, unable to repeat our successes, choose to destroy what others have built.

Apparently, such a destructive line with regard to Russian-Turkish relations will continue. However, I am confident that our Turkish colleagues and I will be able to resist the subversive efforts of hostile forces," Pilipson said.