The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Putin will begin his visit to Turkey on October 10 to attend an energy conference in Istanbul and to meet with Erdogan.

“There will be a speech at the World Energy Congress and a bilateral meeting,” Kremlin aide, Yury Ushakov, said about Putin’s schedule without elaborating on what the two leaders will discuss in the high-level encounter.

Russia and Turkey have been attempting to mend ties which suffered a blow last November after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border. Russia downgraded its ties with Turkey over the incident and Putin imposed an array of economic and military sanctions on Ankara. The Russian leader then accepted an offer of apology by Erdogan in late July and ordered a gradual normalization of ties.

Putin and Erdogan met on August 9 in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, with Erdogan saying that Ankara sought to reset relations with Moscow. He even called Putin his “dear friend.” That was the first meeting between Putin and Erdogan after the jet incident. It was also Erdogan’s first foreign trip after his government was targeted by an abortive coup attempt in mid-July.

Turkey’s ambassador to Russia Umit Yardym announced on Monday that Putin and Erdogan could come together for another meeting before the end of the year. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had also anticipated a meeting between the two in early October, saying Putin was not principally opposed to the idea of attending the World Energy Congress in Turkey, Press TV reported.

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