Moscow In Daily Contact With Turkey Over Situation In Idlib - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) Russia maintains daily, uninterrupted contact with Turkey regarding the situation in Syria's Idlib province, where one of the country's de-escalation zones is, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, a Turkish delegation arrived in Moscow for talks regarding the situation in Idlib in light of a grave escalation of violence in the area. However, Ankara announced it was dissatisfied with the negotiations, and nothing on the matter was decided. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was fully ready to launch an operation in Idlib "any minute."

"We are in daily contact with our Turkish partners in a number of areas � our diplomats and Russian military experts [maintain daily contacts with Turkey]. These contacts are not interrupted, there is no break in these contacts," Zakharova said at a briefing, when asked whether there were plans to organize a visit of a Russian delegation to Ankara to discuss the situation in Idlib.

Zakharova did not rule out the possibility of either country sending a delegation if needed.

The spokeswoman also called on Ankara to use all existing diplomatic channels to conduct the dialogue on Idlib, as this was the most effective way of resolving the issue.

�On Monday, the Syrian armed forces confirmed that large areas in Aleppo and Idlib had been liberated from terrorists, and reaffirmed their determination to eliminate those wishing to "usurp the will" of the Syrian people and "take them as hostages." President Bashar Assad then said that hisarmy would continue liberating Aleppo and Idlib despite facing obstacles from the north.