Putin Says ‘Great Progress’ Made for Crisis Settlement in Syria

MOSCOW-Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a ‘great progress’ was made in the efforts to find a solution to the crisis in Syria, SANA reported.

“Efforts by our countries and the participation of other countries concerned (in particular, I am referring to Iran and our cooperation with the United Nations, the European countries and the United States) we have managed to make great progress towards a settlement of the Syrian crisis,” Sputnik quoted Putin as saying during his meeting on Friday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

 Lavrov says efforts underway to eradicate terrorism in Syria

In a press conference with Cavusoglu, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that efforts must be carried through to achieve a political settlement to the crisis in Syria and a complete elimination of terrorism in it.

He said “We discussed international problems, focused on Syria, reviewed implementation of the agreements reached within the framework of the Astana format at the highest level, at the level of experts.”

Lavrov disclosed that the date of a meeting on Syria between presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey due to be held in Tehran has been set and will be announced ‘very soon.’

Asked about the meeting’s agenda, Lavrov said that the “whole range of issues” are due to be discussed. “De-escalation issues are currently being resolved. We discussed the situation in Idleb, which is indeed multi-layered and intricate.”

Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization is attempting to retake Idleb again, Lavrov affirmed, underlining the importance of keeping civilians away from danger as ridding Idleb of terrorism gets underway.