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Conflict in Syria

Turkish military operation in Syria was no surprise to Russia — Putin

Vladimir Putin has said that the Turkish military operation in Syria was not a surprise to him

© Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP

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HANGZHOU (China), September 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the Turkish military operation in Syria was no surprise to Russia.

"As for surprises, we have the foreign ministries and special services working to this end, so that we could have less surprises," the Russian president said at a news conference after the Group of Twenty (G20) summit. According to him, Moscow "understood what was going on, where the things were coming - as the movement and objective are visible.

"The problems Turkey was facing over the Syrian events were also visible," the Russian leader said.

"We see all this very well and generally speaking, this comes as no surprise to us," Putin said.

Russia-Turkey ties being restored

Russia and Turkey areg gradually mending relations, though not as quickly as the Turkish side would like it, President Vladimir Putin has said.

"As for restoration of our bilateral ties, work proceeds, goes as planned, but not as quickly as our Turkish partners would want this," he told a news conference after a G20 summit.

"Maybe we, for our part, would also want to do it quicker. When we are breaking something, it always comes quickly, and it is always more difficult to restore, it requires certain procedures connected with decisions of the government, with activity of our phytosanitary agencies," Putin explained.

Ankara’s probe into Russian pilot’s killing

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Erdogan: Investigation of suspect in killing of Russian Su-24 bomber’s pilot goes on

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is waiting for the results of Turkey’s investigation into the killing of the Sukhoi-24 plane’s pilot over Syria in 2015.

At a news conference following the G20 summit Putin said that the restoration of Russian-Turkish relations was to a certain extent connected with the investigation of the Russian pilot’s killing.

"Turkey has arrested the pilot who attacked our plane and arrested the man who from Syrian territory opened fire against our pilots after they ejected themselves," Putin said.

"We are waiting for the results of the investigations being conducted by the Turkish authorities, but in any case we see the wish and intention of the Turkish leadership to restore Russian-Turkish ties," Putin said.

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Vladimir Putin Syrian conflict

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