President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to take part in the opening ceremony of a joint year of culture, Tourism Deputy Minister Ahmet Haluk Dursun said yesterday.

The event is planned on April 8 at Russia's Bolshoi Theater, he said, speaking at the Yunus Emre Institute in Moscow.

"The event will be attended by leaders of the two countries, Russia and Turkey. According to the information that we have received, the case will be exactly as I said, but, of course, it will be officially announced not by us, but by authorized persons," he added.

An opera titled Troy, based on the Greek epic, will be performed by Turkish singers.

2019 was announced a cross-year of Russian-Turkish culture in the two countries.

The meeting is expected to be the third meeting of the leaders in 2019 as the two also expected to come together at the next Astana meeting in February in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi.

The leaders also met last week in Moscow, lauding Turkish-Russian cooperation on a political solution to the Syrian crisis, particularly within the Astana process.

In 2018, the two leaders had busy diplomatic traffic with a total of 25 meetings, seven of which were face to face, while others were over the phone.

Meanwhile, according to security officials, a delegation from the Defense Ministry is expected to visit Russia today to go over the developments in Syria.