Russian Foreign Minister: Putin and Erdogan reached agreement on Idlib
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the television show “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” stated that the presidents of Russia and Turkey at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires agreed on new steps aimed at stabilizing the situation around the demilitarized zones in the Syrian Idlib, TASS reports.
“The agreement on Idlib was confirmed. It was noted that, despite the active, consistent actions of our Turkish colleagues, still not all extremists obeyed the requirement to free the 20-kilometer demilitarized zone,” said Lavrov.
According to Lavrov, Putin and Erdogan managed to agree on further actions regarding the demilitarized zone. “We agreed on future steps aimed at respecting the agreement to create this demilitarized zone, but at the same time to take measures so that extremists do not sabotage this crucial agreement, that all have welcomed,” he stated.
The meeting between Putin and Erdogan in Buenos Aires took place on December 1st after US President Donald Trump backed out of talks with the Russian President.
The agreement on regulating Idlib was reached by Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the summit in Sochi on September 17th. The two sides decided to create a demilitarized zone 15-20 kilometers in length, and also agreed not to conduct an operation in Idlib. At the same time, at the summit in Istanbul, Putin stated that Russia is ready to provide the Syrian army with “active support” in Idlib if militants continue attacks.
At the end of October, the Kremlin admitted that implementation of the agreement “is not going according to plan,” however Moscow supports Turkey’s desire to achieve the agreement.