Russian, Turkish FMs to meet at OSCE summit

BELGRADE

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will hold a meeting on Thursday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during an OSCE summit in the Serbian capital Belgrade, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

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).