Kremlin: Putin Not Currently Planning Talks With Erdogan in Istanbul on 5 March

By Staff, Agencies

Russian President Vladimir Putin currently has no plans to pay a visit to Istanbul on 5 March and hold talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Putin's plans do not currently include such a meeting", Peskov told reporters. "The president has other working plans for 5 March," the Kremlin spokesman added, when asked whether Putin planned to travel to Istanbul on 5 March at all.

Meanwhile, Peskov stressed that Russia and Turkey continued their expert-level communication on Idlib.

Earlier, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey had not yet received a satisfactory result in the talks with Russia on Idlib and was ready for the start of a military operation in the region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it the worst-case scenario.

Idlib remains the last stronghold of militants and terrorists in Syria. In September 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised buffer zone in the province, but militants continued to stage attacks on the Syrian government troops and civilians, which resulted in a new offensive of Damascus in the region.