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Russian military police convoy arrives in Syria’s Kobani

Russian military police officers met with local officials to discuss interaction while performing tasks

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. A Russian military police convoy has arrived in Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), a city in northern Syria located close to the Syrian-Turkish border, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"The Russian military police convoy has arrived in the Syrian inhabited community of Kobani located close to the Syrian-Turkish border," the ministry said.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian military police officers met with local officials to discuss interaction while performing tasks.

On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum on joint actions aimed at resolving the situation in northeastern Syria. The document envisaged that Russian military police and Syrian border guards should enter the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border, outside the area of Operation Peace Spring, to facilitate the removal of YPG units and their weapons to the depth of 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border. Kurdish units were given 150 hours to complete the process.

On October 9, Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria, codenaming it Operation Peace Spring. Ankara claimed that its goal was to clear the border area of what it calls ‘terrorists’ (Turkey’s broad label of the Kurdish forces) and establish a 30-kilometer buffer zone in Syria’s north, where over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey would resettle. Turkey’s incursion into Syria has triggered an outcry in the region and across the world. The Syrian SANA news agency branded the operation as an act of aggression, while the international community condemned Erdogan’s military operation.