"We will see more developed relations and that is what needs to take place, because Turkey is a neighbour to Russia. We have… common interests, a common future," Yildirim told Sky News in an interview.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to meet on August 9 in St. Petersburg for the first time since the bilateral relations deteriorated in late 2015 after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 jet in November 2015.
Rapprochement between the two countries began in late June when, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the Su-24 incident and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.
