Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Ankara had assured Moscow that it did not plan to launch a new military operation in Syria despite earlier comments, the TASS news agency reported, according to Reuters.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency on Monday cited Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying Ankara would launch a new military operation in northeast Syria if the area was not cleared of Kurdish militia.
Lavrov also said the withdrawal of Kurdish militants in northern Syria was almost complete, RIA reported.
Turkey reached a deal with Moscow in October pledging to halt its military incursion in exchange for clearance of the area of Kurdish militants.