MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The Russian-Turkish memorandum on jointly settling the situation in northeastern Syria has helped to prevent massive bloodshed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Rossiya-24 TV channel on Friday.
"When it comes to the situation in general, the agreements that were reached in Sochi undoubtedly helped to prevent massive bloodshed, turned the problem of confrontation between Turks and Kurds into the framework of measures on trust-building," Lavrov said.
He explained that two large zones were formed to the west and to the east of the territory that Turkish forces entered after Ankara's failed talks with the United States. "Further movement was stopped thanks to the agreement between [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On the remaining parts of the Turkish-Syrian border, a regime of withdrawal of Kurdish units with weaponry was ensured. Syrian border guards together with Russia's military police entered most of those territories," he added.
After Kurds completely withdraw from the area, Russian military police and Turkish military will start jointly patrolling the 10 km wide zone near the border. Kurdish units have to withdraw from the border by at least 30 km.
"Many questions remain that need to be solved when implementing this scheme. Russian military police already started working together with Syrian border guards. They remain in communication with local population. More servicemen were sent over to participate in the operation. Local residents treat them very well," Lavrov said.
On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum on jointly settling the situation in northeastern Syria.