SOCHI, October 22. /TASS/: The Kremlin expects that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will tell his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the talks in Sochi about his further plans on carrying out Operation Peace Spring.
"Russia wants to discuss the situation in northeastern Syria in order to better understand the events and get information about Turkey’s plans and compare it with general plans on promoting political settlement in Syria," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Erdogan’s visit to Sochi, set to take place later on Tuesday, will prove to be important, Peskov said pointing out that the leaders of Russia and Turkey would discuss Syria-related issues.
"We expect that his [Putin’s] talks with Turkish President Erdogan will begin in an hour, hour and a half. Erdogan will be making a working visit. The visit is important," Peskov said. He emphasized that "the focus will be on Syria-related issues, particularly the situation in the country’s northeast." "We can see the United States and Turkey exchange rather tough statements, so Putin has things to discuss with his Turkish counterpart," Peskov stressed.
According to him, "the two countries’ leaders always take advantage of their meetings to compare positions on bilateral matters." "We have a whole complex of trade and economic relations with Turkey," the Russian presidential spokesman added.
Peskov has said that the upcoming talks between Putin and Erdogan on Syria will be difficult. "There are so many topics, the talks will be complicated, it is clear," he specified.
The Kremlin representative also underlined that the upcoming conversation simply cannot be short. "We are expecting the Turkish leader’s plane to land any minute now. They [leaders] will come here and will begin [the talks] with a small number of people," Peskov said. According to him, the upcoming bilateral meeting will be comprehensive, but it will be held "without any components that go along with a bilateral visit." "Don’t forget that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow there will be around fifty delegations of heads of states and governments and Putin will have a true marathon of bilateral meetings with them," Peskov pointed out.
