Moscow is continuing efforts to persuade Ankara to give up plans to launch a ground operation against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russian media on Monday.
Moscow has also achieved some success in that direction, Russian media quoted Bogdanov as saying.
“Our efforts will continue until the ground operations starts,” Bogdanov said.
Turkey sees the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its armed units as a threat to its security, citing the Kurdish group’s ties to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ankara began renewed airstrikes against the Kurdish-held Syrian town of Kobani on November 20, accusing the Kurdish groups in northeast Syria of organising a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul earlier in November.
The Turkish government officials have repeatedly announced that a ground operation into northeast Syria is imminent, despite objections made by Russia and the United States.
