MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the permanent members of Russia’s Security Council have discussed the situation in Syria’s Idlib along with the Russian-Turkish relations, in the wake of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan scheduled for Thursday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"Along with the current Russian domestic affairs, the situation around Idlib was touched upon," he said. "Apart from that, the participants in the meeting focused on a range of issues in Russian-Turkish relations, including within the framework of preparations for Turkish President Erdogan’s working visit to Moscow scheduled for Thursday," Peskov added.
Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Chief of Presidential Staff Anton Vaino, Security Council’s Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin and Russian Presidential Special Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov took part in the meeting.
On September 17, 2018, at their Sochi talks the Russian and Turkish presidents agreed to establish a 15 to 20-kilometer-deep demilitarized zone in Idlib along the line disengaging Syria’s government troops and armed opposition. In spite of the agreements, militants were not withdrawn from Idlib and continued shelling the government troops’ positions. There have been several escalations in the region since then, including at the beginning of 2020.
The tensions in Syria’s Idlib region escalated on February 27 after militants unleashed a large-scale offensive, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The Syrian government forces conducted strikes on their positions, which, as Ankara claims, killed 36 Turkish soldiers. In response, Ankara launched a new incursion in Syria dubbed Operation Spring Shield targeting the Syrian government forces and facilities.