On January 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay a visit to Turkey.

The Russian Foreign Minister and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu will preside over the first sitting of the Joint Group of Strategic Planning in Istanbul, during which organization of the operation of this new mechanism of the Russian-Turkish collaboration will be discussed, the Russian MFA press service reported.

Besides, the parties will exchange opinions on problems of the European security, the Near East settlement, as well as situation in the Balkans, South Caucasus and other regions.