MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. The United States continues to destabilize the situation in northern Syria by encouraging separatism and supplying weapons, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters Monday.

"Russia and Turkey are guarantors of cessation of hostilities in northeastern Syria in accordance with the 2019 memorandum," the Kremlin representative recalled. According to him, "everyone knows that the activities of the United States, which continues to actively, persistently encourage separatism by providing comprehensive assistance to Kurdish quasi-state structures, including the supply of weapons to them, remain a destabilizing factor in the situation in northern Syria."

Ushakov said that at a meeting in Tehran on July 19, Russian president Vladimir Putin, his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan "will discuss a set of joint measures in order to achieve a final and long-term settlement in Syria." He noted that "special attention will be paid to the normalization of the situation in the areas outside the control of the Syrian government in Idlib and northern Syria."

"In order to normalize the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, as you know, the implementation of the Russian-Turkish Memorandum signed in Sochi in 2018 and its additional protocol of 2020 continues. It provides, among other things, for the organization of joint patrols of this area by Russian and Turkish servicemen," the Kremlin aide recalled.

"As for Turkey's plans to conduct a new operation in northern Syria against Kurdish formations, this issue will quite naturally be discussed," Ushakov said. "The Russian principled position is that we oppose any actions that violate the basic principle of the Syrian settlement, which is enshrined in the relevant [UN Security Council] resolutions and in the decisions of the Astana format, which is respect for Syria's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity," the Kremlin representative pointed out.