This will be 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 Nov.24 despite ten warnings in five minutes.
"We will not hesitate to meet at OSCE [summit]," Russian FM Lavrov said Wednesday during his visit to the Greek Cypriot administration.
He said the request for a meeting during the 22nd Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Council of Ministers meeting in Belgrade came from Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu during a phone conversation between the two after the incident.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin did not meet in Paris during the climate conference, despite a request from Ankara following the downing of the bomber.
The private meeting between Lavrov and Cavusoglu is scheduled for 4.30 p.m. Turkish local time (1430GMT).
More about:
