MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on October 22, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that the summit meeting will take place in Sochi on October 22," he said.

Earlier, the Turkish presidential office said that Erdogan’s visit to Sochi was scheduled for October 22.

In a phone call on October 15, Putin discussed with Erdogan Turkey’s cross-border Operation Peace Spring in Syria and invited him to visit Russia in coming days.

On October 9, Ankara launched an offensive in north Syria dubbed Operation Peace Spring, which began with airstrikes on Kurdish units. The objective is to establish ‘a safe zone’ in northern Syria for protection of the Turkish border. In addition, Syrian refugees could return to that area from Turkey, Ankara believes. Syria’s SANA news agency slammed Ankara’s operation as an act of aggression. The international community criticized Ankara. SANA reported on Sunday evening that Damascus had dispatched army units to Syria’s north to offer resistance to the Turkish army.