Russian PM Putin set to visit Turkey next month

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is scheduled to pay a one-day official visit to Ankara on June 15 at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Putin's talks in Ankara are expected to focus on ways to ensure the synchronized solution of problems between Turkey and Armenia, and Azerbaijan and Armenia. Turkey expects Russia to use its power to solve the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh through peaceful means. To this end, Turkey urges Russia to speed up efforts under the MINSK Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the issue. It is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States, and also includes the following participating states: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan.