15:49, 5 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, ARMENPRESS. Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan started their talks on Syria in the Kremlin on March 5, reports TASS.

The talks are focusing on the situation in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation area. As Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told reporters, the Kremlin expects both leaders to reach common understanding on the causes and the consequences of the Idlib crisis and to work out "a set of necessary joint measures to subsequently stop it."

Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum in May 2017 that included the Idlib province in one of four de-escalation areas in Syria. In September 2018, the Russian and Turkish presidents agreed at their talks in Sochi to set up a de-militarized zone in that province 15-20 km deep along the contact line between the Syrian government troops and the armed opposition.

Despite the accords reached, radical militants were not withdrawn from Idlib and they continued shelling the government troops’ positions. The situation in the Idlib province has escalated several times since then, including at the beginning of 2020.