MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu begins a visit to Russia on Tuesday, after which he will go to Kazakhstan to attend a meeting of the Astana format participants mulling peace settlement of the civil war in Syria.

"In the course of the visit, Minister Cavusoglu will discuss preparations for a summit meeting of the Cooperation Council and will also take part in the annual Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition [MITT]," Turkish Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson said on Monday.

On Tuesday, talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will dominate Cavusoglu’s itinerary in Moscow. The official spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said in this connection the two sides would verify their positions on key issues of the bilateral agenda and analyze practical steps on the previous agreements reached by the Russian and Turkish Presidents, as well as the implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and Turkish Stream gas pipeline projects.

The situation in Syria is destined to become of the main issues at the talks, as the Turkish forces continue combat operations against Kurdish armed units near the northern Syrian city of Afrain. The situation in the Eastern Ghouta area also remains acute, with the Syria military fighting against terrorists and observing daily humanitarian pauses from 09:00 through 14:00 local time [EET].

On March 16, Sergei Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu are expected to meet in Astana with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. They will discuss coordination of efforts of the three countries as guarantors of the Astana process.