The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as expressed by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukasevic, has stated that the relations between Turkey and Russia leveled up to strategic partnership, especially in the field of energy. Lukasevic made a statement on Tuesday prior to the meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group of Russia and Turkey to be held in Istanbul with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. Lukasevic stated that relations between Turkey and Russia, especially in the field of energy, leveled up to strategic partnership in recent years and said, "Turkish firms made an investment of 510 million dollars in Russia and Russian businessmen made an investment of 20 million dollars in Turkey in 2012. Russian entrepreneurs would like to invest in Turkey."
Reminding that Russia was second on the list of countries with which Turkey trades and that Turkey was seventh on Russia's list, Lukasevic said the trade volume between Turkey and Russia increased 8.1 percent in 2012 and reached 35 billion dollars.