Russia to suspend visa-free travel with Turkey from January

Moscow has decided to suspend visa-free travel with Turkey, the Russian foreign minister said.

Sergey Lavrov said Turkey has been reluctant to share information with Russia about its citizens accused of involvement in terrorist activities.

He said the visa-free travel will be suspended from January 1.

The move comes amid a bitter spat between Moscow and Ankara over a Russian warplane downed by Turkey on Tuesday.

The Turkish foreign minister earlier said Turkey wants to overcome the tensions with Moscow through "diplomacy".

Speaking during a visit to Azerbaijan, Mevlut Cavusoglu urged Russia to help deflate tensions through "level headed statements and acts", the Anadolu news agency reported.

He said: "We don't favour tensions. We believe we can overcome this problem through diplomacy. We expect the same understanding from our friend and neighbour Russia."

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin at a climate summit in Paris next week.

He said: "There is a summit in Paris, I believe he (Putin) will also attend. We could sit and talk there.

"I would like to meet (Putin) face to face in Paris. I would like to bring the issue to a reasonable point. We are disturbed that the issue has been escalated."

Mr Erdogan added that he had warned Mr Putin of the risks of Russian planes intruding into Turkey's airspace earlier this month.

He said the conversation took place during their meeting at the G-20 summit in Antalya, with Mr Putin urging Turkey to accept the Russian planes "as guests".

Mr Erdogan said he responded: "There cannot be uninvited guests. The region is sensitive."

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to speculate over whether Mr Putin was considering a Turkish request for a meeting at the climate summit.