Lavrov, Cavusoglu Hold Phone Talks Ahead Of Erdogan's Visit To Russia - Source

ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) The Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu, held a telephone conversation on Tuesday ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Russia, a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

"Our minister held phone talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov," the source said without disclosing the details of the conversation.

On Wednesday, Erdogan will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Turkish president said on Monday that he intended to discuss with Putin the creation of a security zone in Syria.

In December, Erdogan announced that Ankara was ready to launch a military operation against Kurdish fighters on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River as well as in Syria's Manbij, located near the Turkish border, if the United States did not remove the militia from there. He later said that he had decided to postpone the start of the operation following a December 14 phone conversation with US President Donald Trump, who later announced plans to withdraw US troops from Syria.