Intel chief on Erdoğan’s plane en route to Russia for meeting with Putin

ISTANBUL

The head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), Hakan Fidan, has accompanied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a visit to St. Petersburg to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a breakthrough meeting following the jet crisis between Ankara and Moscow last year.

The president departed from Esenboğa Airport in Ankara for St. Petersburg at 10 a.m.

Among the delegation were also Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Agriculture Minister Faruk Çelik, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak and the deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Mehdi Eker.

The two leaders will attend an inter-delegatory working lunch after a one-on-one meeting.

They are later expected to hold a press meeting at the end of the lunch.

There has been huge pressure on Fidan in the wake of the failed coup attempt of July 15 over his failure to inform high-level officials, including Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım about the attempted takeover as it was materializing.