MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Moscow cannot currently confirm information about the possibility of holding talks between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier on Thursday that he planned to meet for talks with Russia’s top diplomat Lavrov.
"I have information neither about details, nor about any type of confirmed meeting," she said speaking at a news briefing, adding that Russia maintains close relations with Turkey at the level of foreign ministers and is considering specific proposals from the Turkish side regarding future steps.
Earlier in the day, Cavusoglu told journalists that the December 28 trilateral meeting on Syria in Moscow was useful from the standpoint of reaching a compromise on the roadmap to settle the situation.
Turkey’s top diplomat noted that for the next round of talks "it is necessary to schedule a meeting at the level of the foreign ministers."
"There is no exact date as of yet for such a meeting, and there is no clear date for similar talks between the countries’ leaders yet either," he said. "However, January is still early for such a meeting, and even for negotiations [at the level of foreign ministers]."
The defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey held a trilateral meeting in Moscow on December 28, discussing the Syrian crisis, the refugee issue and joint efforts to combat terrorist groups. The Russian Defense Ministry specified that the parties had emphasized the need to maintain dialogue to continue efforts to stabilize the situation in Syria and the region in general.
The Russian Defense Ministry pointed out that following the meeting, the sides hailed the constructive nature of this style of dialogue and the need to sustain it in order to stabilize the situation in Syria as well as in the region.
On November 24, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar held a telephone conversation which touched upon the situation in northern Syria and the implementation of the grain deal.