Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have held talks with the aid of using telephone, their workplaces stated, earlier than the 2 international locations marked the inauguration of Turkey`s first nuclear energy reactor.
The Akkuyu nuclear energy plant in Turkey`s southern Mersin province has been constructed with the aid of using Russia`s nation nuclear strength enterprise Rosatom.
Erdogan thanked Putin on Thursday all through their name for his assist at the energy plant, the Turkish leader`s workplace stated. They additionally mentioned the Black Sea grain initiative and the scenario in Ukraine, it stated.
Putin stated they agreed to deepen economic, alternate and agricultural cooperation. He stated the 2 international locations have been operating on an initiative with the aid of using Erdogan to ship flour crafted from Russian grain to international locations that wished it.
Both presidents took element honestly in a rite marking the loading of nuclear gas into the primary energy unit at Akkuyu.
The $20bn, 4,800-megawatt assignment to construct 4 reactors withinside the Mediterranean city of Akkuyu will permit Turkey to enroll in the small membership of countries with civil nuclear strength.
“We plan to finish the bodily launch [of the plant] subsequent year … so one can be capable of produce strength on a constant foundation from 2025, as we agreed,” stated Andrei Likhachev, head of Rosatom.
Turkey hopes the plant, defined with the aid of using Likhachev as the “biggest nuclear production webweb page at the planet”, will lessen its dependence on imported hydrocarbons for strength.
Sanction `problems`
Construction of the Akkuyu plant turned into complex with the aid of using sanctions the West imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
“Yes, we’ve got positive logistical problems,” Akkuyu plant director Sergei Butskikh informed journalists at the eve of the launch.
“The transportation routes are becoming longer. Not all the delivery groups are capable of paintings with us. So right here yes, we experience the sanctions,” he added.
“But this has now no longer affected the pleasant of the plant`s production.”
Erdogan has been one of the few global leaders to keep exact members of the family with Putin with the aid of using refusing to enroll in Western sanctions on Russia and looking to mediate an cease to the war.
Erdogan joined Thursday`s rite with the aid of using video hyperlink instead of traveling to the webweb page because of a fitness problem that pressured him to cancel marketing campaign rallies this week. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca stated the president turned into now feeling better.
