Turkish, Russian Troops May Be Present in Idlib De-escalation Zone

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the Russian side had put forward a proposal to send servicemen from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to de-escalation zones in Syria.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Turkish and Russian servicemen may be present in the de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idlib, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Thursday.

"There is a working group on the Syria de-escalation zones. Last week, [Alexander] Lavrentyev, the envoy of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for Syria, was here. We had detailed negotiations with him," Kalin said as quoted by the Haberturk channel.

The group is still working on the de-escalation zones map with demarcation lines, the spokesman said.

"A mechanism is being developed within the framework of which our and Russian servicemen could maybe be in Idlib, Russian and Iranian [servicemen] near Damascus, Jordanian and US [servicemen] south of Daraa," he added.

Ibrahim Kalin also said that the Russian side had put forward a proposal to send servicemen from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to de-escalation zones in Syria.

"There was even a proposal from the Russians to send a certain number of Kyrgyz and Kazakh [servicemen]. They too can take their place in the framework of these efforts… but all this requires detailed work," Kalin said.