MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/: The situation in Syria was in focus of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday.
"The president discussed in detail the situation in Syria. Mutual concern was expressed over the escalation of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone," the press service said.
"The sides stressed the necessity of staying committed to the Russian-Turkish agreements on Idlib that provide for increased joint efforts towards neutralization of extremists," the Kremlin added.
"Vladimir Putin drew attention to the dramatically increased activities of terrorist groups as their attacks have claimed numerous lives among civilians," the Kremlin said. In this context, Putin and Erdogan agreed to take "urgent measures, first of all between the Russian and Turkish defense ministries, to improve coordination of efforts in Syria."
Apart from that, the presidents reiterated their support to the intra-Syrian dialogue in the framework of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva.
Russian-Turkish agreements
On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Russia’s Sochi to agree on a ten-provision memorandum on joint operations to control the situation in northeastern Syria. Under the arrangement, Russian military police and Syrian border guards were deployed to Syrian territories adjacent to Turkey’s the 30-kilometer buffer zone from October 23.
Turkey’s national defense ministry said on January 10 that Ankara and Moscow had agreed on a ceasefire in the Idlib de-escalation zone in northern Syria from January 12.
Idlib is the only large Syrian region that is still controlled by illegal armed groups. A northern de-escalation zone was set up in Idlib in 2017 to give shelter to militants and their families who were reluctant to voluntarily surrender arms in Eastern Ghouta and in Syria’s southern regions. Twelve Turkish observation stations are operating in the Idlib governorate.
