Russia continues negotiations with Turkey regarding surgery in Syria and calculates the political and diplomatic way to convince Ankar to refuse to carry out it. This was stated on Monday by the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Middle East and the countries of Africa, the deputy head of the Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Bogdanov.
“We hope, we count on this (Turkey’s refusal from the operation .- Ed.) … We continue contacts in bilateral format with our Turkish colleagues. We continue to work with them,” TASS quotes him.
On Monday, June 20, the TGRT channel said that the Turkish army is completely ready for the beginning of a cross -border operation in Syria and is waiting for the order for its beginning. From the four previous operations carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces since 2016 in the neighboring territory, it will differ in that the emphasis in it will be made on the use of its own military equipment or a modernized Turkish side, the television channel notes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously stated that the operation in the north of Syria can be started at any time, at the initial stage it will be aimed at the release of Tel Rifat and Manbij regions from terrorists. The main goal of the Turkish leader called the expansion of the 30-kilometer security zone created in October 2019 after the Operation “Source of the World”. At the same time, the special representative of the Russian President in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, stated a few days ago that Russia turned to the Turkish authorities with a request to refuse to undergo a military operation in the north of Syria. According to him, the leadership of the Russian Federation believes that the new operation of Ankara will not solve the problem of the national security of Turkey.