Kremlin: Turkey Does not Fulfill Conditions for Syria

Moscow urged against "negative scenarios for the development of Russian-Turkish relations" because of the situation in Idlib. Turkey does not comply with the conditions of the Sochi agreements on Syria, reached more than a year ago, spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said in a program on Russia 1, on February 23. He believes that at the moment "the terrorists in Idlib are perfectly armed, they are constantly being supplied with ammunition, weapon, military equipment." "In this case, we can clearly say that the conditions of the Sochi agreements, which were signed by the two presidents more than a year ago, have not been fulfilled yet, and it was said that Turkey would have to ensure the withdrawal, demarcation, withdrawal of heavy weapons and so on ", he said. The Kremlin spokesman added that “very dangerous models of military equipment” fall into the hands of terrorists, which also hinders the normalization of the situation. At the same time, he urged not to make negative scenarios for the development of Russian-Turkish relations because of the situation in Idlib. Peskov noted that the military of Russia and Turkey are in constant contact, and if necessary, heads of state are involved in discussing this topic. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a summit will be held in Istanbul on March 5 to resolve the conflict in the Syrian province of Idlib. It will be attended by the presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The situation in Idlib province deteriorated in early February, after five Turkish soldiers died as a result of shelling of the Turkish post in the area of Taftanaz. After that, Turkey retaliated against 115 targets in the location of the Syrian army. On the morning of February 11, the Syrian opposition, with the support of Turkey, launched an attack on troops in Idlib. The troops of the Syrian army with the support of Russia repelled this attack. On February 20, the Syrian opposition, supported by Turkey, launched an offensive against government forces. The Turkish ground forces, with the support of artillery, broke through the defenses of the Syrian army. Then a group of Russian Su-24 bombers attacked the north of Syria.