Russia intends to continue to using working contacts with Turkey in order to prevent the situation in Idlib from further escalating, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the reporters.
Earlier, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey has not yet received a satisfactory result in negotiations with the Russian Federation on the Syrian Idlib and is ready for the start of a military operation in this region.
“We were satisfied with the agreements that were reached more than a year ago in Sochi, and this was mutual satisfaction, and we absolutely ceased to be satisfied after the offensive actions of militants and terrorist groups against the Syrian armed forces and the Russian military began from the territory of Idlib. Our satisfaction ended here, we intend to continue to use our working contacts with Turkish colleagues so as not to allow the situation in Idlib to further escalate”, – said Peskov, in response to a question about the Russian position concerning the negotiations on the agreements reached.
The first stage of negotiations took place last week in Ankara amid escalation of tension in northwestern Syria. The second stage of negotiations was held in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday. The interdepartmental Russian delegation included the President’s Special Representative for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentiev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Defense. The Turkish delegation is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.
In accordance with the agreement reached in May 2017 at the talks in Astana (now Nur-Sultan) by representatives of Russia, Iran and Turkey, four de-escalation zones were created in Syria. The territory of three of them in 2018 came under the control of Damascus. The fourth zone, located in the province of Idlib and parts of the neighboring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, is still not subject to the government of the republic. Moreover, most of it was captured by terrorists from the Jebhat al-Nusra group*.
In September 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed in Sochi on the creation of a demilitarized zone in Idlib, where there are more than a dozen different units.
* – Terrorist organization banned in Russia.