MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Istanbul on March 5.

"President Putin has no plans for such a meeting on March 5 so far," he told reporters on Thursday.

Peskov added that there was no trip to Istanbul in the president’s schedule for March 5. "No, President Putin has other work plans for March 5," he said.

The Kremlin spokesman noted though that Russia and Turkey continued to communicate at the expert and working levels, "first and foremost, to discuss the Idlib crisis."

On February 26, Erdogan told Turkish reporters that his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was likely to take place in Istanbul on March 5. He also reiterated that the Turkish armed forces’ presence in Syria’s Idlib was legitimate. According to Erdogan, this is envisaged by the Adana agreement.