The anticipated meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was held in Belgrade on Thursday. After the meeting, Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu highlighted the deep-rooted relations betweeen both countries while stating that it would be unrealistic to think that problems between Turkey and Russia would be solved in only one bilateral meeting.

Çavuşoğlu stressed that it is still very important to "keep communication channels open".

"We have offered our condolences for the Russian pilot. We have also responded to Russia's claims regarding our oil trade," the FM said, further touching upon bilateral ties and the slanders targeting Turkey's reputation. "Turkey does not have any decision to impose any santions on Russia," he said. Underlining Russia's claims that Turkey is involved in oil trade with the Daesh terrorist organization, he said "We hope they will stop baseless claims."The meeting was the first direct talk between the two high officials of both countries after the downing of a Russian fighter jet that breached Turkish airspace on Nov. 24.The two ministers met during the ministerial council meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Dec. 3-4 in the Serbian capital. The meeting started at 02:30 p.m. GMT on Thursday.The meeting was earlier proposed by Turkish authorities to keep the dialogue open between the two countries following the crisis in relations.Lavrov announced that he will meet Çavuşoğlu after meeting with Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides in Nicosia on Wednesday. He added that Russia's expectation is that the Turkish side closes its borders to terrorists.Ankara has repeatedly called on the Kremlin to de-escalate the tensions and requested bilateral meetings. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin refusing to answer his phone call and meet in Paris at the climate summit.Russia further escalated tensions by imposing sanctions on Turkey. Such moves by the Kremlin are interpreted as a heavy blow not only to Ankara but also to itself. Commenting on Russia's decision to impose sanctions on Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stressed that economic sanctions are "a weapon that backfires." He added that the Kremlin's approach turns into a "lose-lose" situation.