Russia’s Kremlin announced on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation in which they discussed developments in Syria’s Idlib and means to continue coordination for a political settlement in the war-torn country.
The call coincided with the Russian Defense Ministry warning of the worsening situation in Idlib, because of “the provocative actions of extremists.” The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that an attack targeting the Hmeimim airbase near Latakia was repelled.
Discussions held by Erdogan and Putin focused on developments in Syria, but also discussed the situation in Libya.
“The emphasis was placed, for instance, on the importance of stepping up efforts to assist the Syrian settlement, including the Astana format – backed by the agreements of the Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit held on July 1, 2020. High marks were given to the interaction along the lines of Russia’s and Turkey’s Defense Ministries, which allowed the situation in Idlib and in the northeast of the Syrian Arab Republic to stabilize,” the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
Additionally, the Russian and Turkish leaders agreed to activate political-diplomatic efforts as soon as possible to end to the Libyan conflict and to revive the negotiation process in the North African country.
“They have once again stressed the need to end the armed conflict in Libya without delay and promptly return to the negotiations based on the decisions of the Berlin conference that took place on January 19, 2020, approved by Resolution 2510 of the UN Security Council. They agreed to activate joint political-diplomatic efforts in this area,” the Kremlin press service notes.
The Kremlin drew wide satisfaction because of the “degree of interaction between the Russian and Turkish defense ministries,” and the statement said that the two presidents “have a good evaluation of the degree of coordination of the military levels between the two countries, which helped stabilize the situation in Idlib and in Syria’s northeast."