“Alfa Group, providing the right conditions are provided, is ready to invest over $3 billion in the Turkish telecommunications sector in the near future,” he said after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Redjep Erdogan.

He added that Alfa Group would seek political support before investing such an amount.

“Of course, when people want to carry out plans on such a scale, they strive for political support and guarantees,” he said.

Putin appears to have referred to Alfa Group’s recent deal with Cukurova Group for a 13.2% stake in Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell.

Alfa Group has agreed to provide a $1.71 billion six-year loan to debt-stricken Cukurova Group, and buy convertible bonds that can be exchanged for Turkcell shares for $1.54 billion.

Putin said he hoped that the Turkish government would create the right conditions for the development of Russian investment in Turkey.

“We very much hope that the Turkish government and the leader of the parliament do everything that they can to ensure an increase in Russian capital investments in Turkey,” he said.

Key shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman has already publicly said that the Turkish government supports the Russian holding’s plans for investment.

After meeting with Kursad Tuzmen, Turkey’s Minister of State, who is also in charge of trade issues, Fridman said at the beginning of July that “We (Alfa Group) received assurances from the minister that the Turkish government supports our deal.”

Putin also noted that although Turkish investments in Russia far outweighed Russian investments in Turkey, steps would be made to redress the balance. At present, Turkish investments in Russia stood at about $1.5 billion and Russian investments in Turkey, at only $200-300 million.

“But we are ready to expand our activities,” Putin said.

© Prime-TASS"