President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and his counterpart, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, will hold talks this week in Moscow amid mounting tensions in Syria, Turkey's presidency said March 2.
Turkey confirmed on March 2 that it had launched a full military operation against Russian-backed Syrian forces following increasing clashes in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib. The latest escalation followed the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers last week in an air strike blamed on Syria which Ankara claimed its retaliatory attacked neutralised hundreds of Syrian military troops and over two hundred Syrian targets were hit during the operations
President Erdogan is due to pay a one-day visit to Russia on March 5, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the proposed meeting between the two leaders to reporters on Monday that the Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will meet in Moscow on March 5.
"Indeed, the president of the Republic of Turkey will arrive in Moscow for a working visit on March 5 where he is scheduled to hold talks with our president," Peskov said.
Turkey killed 19 Syrian soldiers in drone strikes on March 1 and shot down two government warplanes.
Turkey and Russia -- which back opposing sides in the conflict -- have avoided direct confrontation so far. The two countries share significant defense and trade ties.
Putin on March 2 told Russian news agency TASS that Russia does not plan to go to war with anyone, but wants to dissuade other countries from engaging in conflict with Moscow.
Erdogan and Putin agreed at a meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi in October 2019 to conduct joint military patrols in northeast Syria.
But Syria and Russia look increasingly determined to regain full control of the area and an offensive launched in December has displaced close to a million civilians, according to UN claims.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and TASS
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