Russia FM ready to meet with Turkish counterpart in Belgrade

NICOSIA, December 2. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday he is ready to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council due on December 3-4 in Belgrade.

"The Turkish side has been insistently calling for organising a face-to-face meeting with the Turkish foreign minister on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council," Lavrov said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia.

"We will not avoid this contact. We will listen to what (Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut) Cavusoglu says. Maybe something new compared with what has been said in public."

Lavrov said he spoke with his Turkish counterpart the next day after the November 24 downing of the Russian Su-24 jet. "I heard nothing new compared with what the Turkish leadership said in public, justifying its unacceptable criminal act."

Turkey should be well aware what it should do after Sukhoi-24 incident 

The minister noted Turkey should be well aware what it should do after its Air Force shot down Russia’s Sukhoi-24 bomber.

"I’m not going to say anything about what Turkey should do. It is up to our Turkish counterparts to realize what is to be done. I believe that everybody else understands the situation very well and what action must be taken," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister noted that relations between Moscow and Ankara could no longer develop in accordance with the ‘business as usual’ principle after the attack on the Su-24 jet.

"It is clear that the relations between Russia and Turkey cannot develop in this situation on the basis of the ‘business as usual’ principle," he said. "We regard this step by Turkey as contravening the task of combating terrorism."

Russia’s relations with Turkey doomed to change 

Lavrov also pointed out that Russia’s relations with Turkey cannot continue in accordance with the ‘business as usual’ principle after the attack on the Sukhoi Su-24 jet.

"It is clear that the relations between Russia and Turkey cannot develop in this situation on the basis of the ‘business as usual’ principle," he said. "We regard this step by Turkey as contravening the task of combating terrorism."

Attack on Russian plane may have aimed at disrupting Syria settlement

According to the diplomat, an attempt to disrupt the Syrian political settlement process launched in Vienna might have been behind the attack on Russia’s Sukhoi Su-24 plane.

"It’s difficult to get rid of the impression that somebody wanted to disrupt the political process that was launched in Vienna within the Syrian Support Group and to help the Islamists prevail both in Syria and the region," he said.

Lavrov added that Russia values "the solidarity of Cyprus in connection with the actions of Turkey that for no good reason downed Russia’s bomber that was on an antiterrorist mission."

Russia-Turkey tensions

Relations between Russia and Turkey hit a low after the incident on November 24 when a Turkish F-16 fighter jet brought down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, which, Ankara alleges, violated the country’s airspace near the Syrian border. The Russian Defense Ministry said the warplane was flying over Syrian territory and had never violated Turkey’s airspace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Turkey’s attack will have "serious consequences" for Russian-Turkish relations. Putin said Ankara’s attack against the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 plane, which took part in Russia’s antiterrorism operation in Syria and did not present a threat to Turkey, was a "stab in Russia’s back" delivered by terrorists’ accomplices.

Late last month, Putin signed a decree on a provisional ban on employing Turkish citizens in Russia as of January 1, 2016. The same decree suspends visa-free traveling between the two countries and imposes restrictions on the imports of certain commodities from Turkey.