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Turkish top diplomat plans to visit Russia

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says he plams to visit Russia to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Syria

ANKARA, December 25. /TASS/. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday he planned to pay a visit to Russia to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.

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Turkey welcomes US’ decision to withdraw army from Syria

"I will travel to Russia to evaluate the process of [US] forces’ withdrawal [from Syria]," the Haberturk newspaper quotes the minister as saying.

The date of his visit was not specified.

According to Cavusoglu, Turkey and the United States have agreed to complete the implementation of the roadmap on Syria’s Manbij before the US pullout of Syria. The top diplomat stressed that, if France wanted to retain military presence in Syria to protect terrorists from the Self-Defense Forces [Kurdish units - TASS], that would benefit neither France nor these Self-Defense Forces.

On December 19, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s decision to begin the withdrawal of US forces from Syria. He noted that the United States had succeeded in its mission to defeat the Islamic State terror group and that it was time to bring US troops home. Currently, there are 2,000 US military servicemen there. According to US officials, the withdrawal of the US forces will take from 60 to 100 days.

Washington launched its military operation against the Islamic State (IS) terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Iraq in June 2014 and in Syria - in September 2014.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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Ukrainian trace obvious in Crocus City Hall attack — Russian prosecutor general

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Russia to scrap moratorium on intermediate missiles if US deploys them anywhere — MFA

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Russian forces destroy Ukrainian command post, two S-300 missile launchers over day

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No plans for pauses in fighting if talks on Ukraine begin, Lavrov says

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Lavrov says Borrell let it slip that Europe ‘fighting against Russia’

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Security guarantees on Ukraine did not apply to Crimea, Donbass — Lavrov

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