MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. There are no official talks with Turkey yet on the provision of access for Russia to Turkey’s Incirlik air base, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"I don’t know whether there have been any official communications on this score among the military and whether they have had time to resume them. If I’m not mistaken, they have not yet been resumed. We have heard this statement through the media. No doubt, this is an important statement and it has to be duly analyzed from the political and military standpoints, which will be done by our corresponding bodies," the presidential spokesman said.
As the Kremlin spokesman said, "there has been no official correspondence or an official exchange of opinions on this issue so far."
"That is why, this issue still has to be formalized somehow and it is necessary to determine what the talk is about. So far, we have taken note of the statements, which we have read in the media," the presidential spokesman said.
It was earlier reported that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said in an interview that Russia could be allowed to use the air base to fight the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia).
Ankara has by now allowed the United States, Germany the United Kingdom, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to use its Incirlik air base.
Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra on September 30, 2015, on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad. On March 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ group from Syria.
Two Russian military facilities - at the Hmeymim aerodrome and in Tartus - are still operational in Syria. The Russian military continue taking an active part in the fight against terrorist groups.