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Putin highlights need for face-to-face conversation with Erdogan amid Idlib crisis

05 March 2020 16:19 (UTC +04:00)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that a face-to-face meeting was necessary amid the escalation in Idlib, APA reports citing TASS.

"We always have something to talk about, but now the situation in the Idlib zone has escalated so much that this requires our face-to-face conversation," the Russian leader said opening the Russian-Turkish talks.

According to Russia's president, the situation in Idlib must be discussed so that it does not ruin Russian-Turkish relations. "We must definitely discuss everything, the entire situation we have today, so that similar things […] never happen again and so that […] it does not destroy the Russian-Turkish relations, which we — and I know that you too — treat carefully and prize highly," Putin stated.

The Russian leader noted that the conversation would begin in private, as the Turkish leader had asked, and later, if necessary, the two countries' delegations would join it.