Historically, Turkish-Russian relations have been cold and distant. During the Cold war, the two former rivals viewed each other with hostility. After the fall of the USSR and in the early 1990s, the grounds were paved for the improvement in the bilateral ties. Even though the two states have different military and security concerns, they have established closer relations in economic and trade fields. The issue of energy plays a major role in their bilateral relations, given the fact that Turkey is one of the major importers of energy and Russia is a key exporter of this strategic commodity. The volume of their bilateral trade reached 42 billion dollars in 2011,more than three million Russian tourists visit Turkey annually, and the two countries recently signed a visa exemption agreement for traveling between Turkey and Russia
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