Russia to consider interests of Turkey, all parties in Syria: FM

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia will the consider interests of all parties and Syria’s neighbors including Turkey regarding the 32-kilometer (20-mile) safe zone to be formed in northern Syria, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

"We will fully seek to take into account the interests of all parties involved, all of Syria's neighbors," Sergey Lavrov told an annual news conference in Moscow in response to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

"And, of course, the security interests of all countries in the region, including Turkey, will be part of the agreements that we will seek," he added.

On Monday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, discussing the idea of establishing a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria.

The phone call came after Trump threatened to "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds," conflating "Kurds" with the terrorist PKK/YPG in Syria, a conflation that Turkey has repeatedly criticized.

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Tuesday highlighted that Turkey's aim in Syria's Idlib was to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.