The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers are to meet on the sidelines of an global gathering in Serbia, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.
Advertisement
Russia has been punishing Turkey economically for its downing of a Russian warplane along the Syria border which led to the deaths of two Russian servicemen.
Mr Lavrov was speaking with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic in Belgrade on the eve of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) summit. “No one can blame Turkey, no one can expect an apology from Turkey”, Davutoglu stated within the speech, which was on tv on Turkish tv.
Hours earlier, President Putin said Turkey will regret the downing of the Russian fighter jet “more than once”, suggesting Russia will impose more sanctions and response measures against Ankara as he called the incident a “treacherous war crime”. Russia also scrapped talks with Turkey on building a pipeline to export Russian natural gas to Europe.
Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC that the Omar fields in eastern Syria were targeted to strike “a very real blow at the oil and the revenue” on which the Islamic State group depends.
Kerry renewed his call “to both Russian Federation and the separatists it backs to fully implement the Minsk Agreements”, referring to the peace plan that includes the withdrawal of foreign troops and returning control of the border to Ukraine.
Joint energy and transport projects, realized by Azerbaijan and Turkey, are of great significance forboth countries, their peoples, the region and theworld in general, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
However, neither Turkish Stream, nor Akkuyu were included in the list of economic sanctions against Turkey ratified by the Russian government on Tuesday.
On 24 November, the Turkish air force shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Shortly afterwards, the head of Italian oil major Eni, slated as one of the main buyers for the pipeline’s gas, said the project was dead in the water. Davutoglu said a rejection of Russia’s claims by the United States was further evidence that Moscow was peddling a fabricated narrative.
Meanwhile, Cavusoglu said the crisis was on the way to cooling down and expressed sorrow for the death of the Russian pilot.
Advertisement
The meeting took place at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries and follows a stern warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Thursday vowed to make Turkey regret its action.
