By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have started their first face-to-face meeting of 2019.
Putin expressed his condolences to Erdogan over the death of 16 Turkish citizens, who were killed in a twin vessel fire in the Kerch Strait on Jan. 21.
Putin said the incident had happened in neutral waters as one of the vessels was transferring its cargo of liquified gas to the other.
"Our services reacted quickly -- did everything to save the people. But it is still a great tragedy for the families, for the victims. Please accept our condolences," he said.
Putin also praised the development of Russian-Turkish cooperation in 2018 and said the trade turnover between the two countries shows further growth.