The meeting between Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu took place on the sidelines of the gathering of the ministerial council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Belgrade.
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According to worldwide media reports, both the officials met here in the Serbian capital to discuss the warplane incident that has since escalated tensions between the two countries.
“The Turkish minister confirmed the approaches previously voiced publically by both the president and prime minister of Turkey”.
Russian Federation has stepped up its pressure on Turkey, suspending the planned construction of a crucial gas pipeline between the two countries.
The top diplomats of Turkey and Russian Federation were set to meet on Thursday for the first time since Ankara shot down one of Moscow’s warplanes, as dozens of foreign ministers gathered in Belgrade.
A year ago, almost to the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin was announcing, during a visit to Ankara, that the South Stream gas pipeline would be re-directed, making landfall in Turkey rather than Bulgaria, and not-so-subtly threatening the European Union that it would be at Ankara’s mercy when it came to gas supplies.
Ties between Turkey and Russia became strained last month when a Russian fighter plane was downed by a Turkish military jet near the border with Syria.
Commenting on the Turkish side’s suggestion that the Russian citizens may have been involved in the purchase of Daesh oil, the Russian Foreign Minister said those claims may be “a result of guilty conscience”, Sputnik reported.
This was the first high-level contact between Ankara and Moscow since an intruding Russian SU-24 was shot down by Turkish F-16s near the Syrian border after it breached Turkish airspace on November 24. Though Russia has promised to adhere to its contractual supply obligations, the incident has left Turkey exposed.
“Thus, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the coalition against terrorism in Syria must be based on global law”.
Novak, meanwhile, also said the intergovernmental talks on TurkStream between Russian Federation and Turkey have been halted.
Turkey has been the prime destination for Russian tourists, with 3.3 million visitors in 2014.
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Davutoglu also renewed an accusation that Russian operations in Syria were hampering efforts to clear Turkey’s border of IS militants.
