Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (Photo: TASS)

Neither leader made any detailed statements to the media following their talk, but Putin thanked Erdogan for the visit, which he called useful and substantive.

Turkish officials said before the meeting that Erdogan would press Putin for a return to a ceasefire agreed last year to end a Russian and Syrian army assault on Turkey-backed fighters in Syria's Idlib region.

Mr. Erdogan said joint actions on Syria are important and Syrian peace is dependent on Turkey-Russia ties. President Putin made only a passing reference to Syria in his opening comments, saying it was one of the areas where the two countries have cooperated fairly successfully, adding that negotiations with Turkey are sometimes difficult but the two countries have learned how to reach mutually beneficial compromises.