Secret talks 'clinched Moscow-Ankara deal'

Russia and Turkey clinched a deal to normalize relations in secret talks in the Uzbek capital Tashkent following mediation by figures including a prominent Turkish businessman and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a report said on Tuesday.

Ankara and Moscow in late June agreed to mend ties that had been severely damaged by Turkey's shooting down of a Russian plane over the Syrian border in November.

In a sign both sides are intent on improving ties, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled on Tuesday to Saint Petersburg for his first talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since the crisis.