Moscow hopes that all the arrangements with Turkey on Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone will be implemented and the sides maintain constant contact on this issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Sputnik.
RHODES (Greece) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 06th October, 2018) Moscow hopes that all the arrangements with Turkey on Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone will be implemented and the sides maintain constant contact on this issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Sputnik.
"The contacts continue and we continue working with the Turkish partners to implement arrangements reached on September 17. It is better to ask our military about the details, who are in close contact with Ankara. I think the work is underway and let's hope that all the provisions of the Sochi memorandum will be implemented," Bogdanov said in an interview on the sidelines of the Dialogue of Civilizations forum on the Greek island of Rhodes.
On September 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in the Russian resort city of Sochi and signed an agreement on setting up a 9-12 mile demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line of the armed opposition and the government forces by October 15. The agreement was aimed at prevention of the possible offensive of the Syrian government's troops in the province of Idlib, which remains the last stronghold of insurgency.
According to Bogdanov, the arrangements on Idlib "are temporarily" and their final goal is "the elimination of the terrorist stronghold in Syria in general and in the Idlib province in particular, as well as the establishment of unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the [Syrian] state."
"Of course, those terrorists who did not lay down arms and who continue their attacks, must be arrested or killed, as it was clearly stated by the Russian side and some of our partners, including the legitimate leadership in Damascus," Bogdanov added.
