Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed with the Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib. This “Lente.ru” reported in the Ministry of Defense.
It is noted that the parties raised issues of stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
Earlier, Akar notedthat the Russian and Turkish military have good contact on the situation in Idlib. At the same time, he emphasized that Russia does not fully satisfy Turkey’s requests for the use of Syrian airspace. “Now it’s important that we can fully use it. There is progress in this direction, we are negotiating, ”the minister added.
After the offensive in January-February, the Syrian army occupied almost half of the Idlib de-escalation zone and left behind Turkish observation posts. This outraged Ankara, and the Turkish president said that if by the end of February the Syrian troops were not withdrawn from the line of posts, then the Turkish army would begin a military operation. Russia spoke in favor of resolving the situation through negotiations, but the parties have so far failed to agree.