Photo: Alexander Scherbak/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday he is ready to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council due on December 3-4 in Belgrade, TASS reports.
“The Turkish side has been insistently calling for organising a face-to-face meeting with the Turkish foreign minister on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council,” Lavrov said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia.
“We will not avoid this contact. We will listen to what (Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut) Cavusoglu says. Maybe something new compared with what has been said in public.”
Lavrov said he spoke with his Turkish counterpart the next day after the November 24 downing of the Russian Su-24 jet. “I heard nothing new compared with what the Turkish leadership said in public, justifying its unacceptable criminal act.”
The Russian foreign minister noted that relations between Moscow and Ankara could no longer develop in accordance with the ‘business as usual’ principle after the attack on the Su-24 jet.
“It is clear that the relations between Russia and Turkey cannot develop in this situation on the basis of the ‘business as usual’ principle,” he said. “We regard this step by Turkey as contravening the task of combating terrorism.”
Lavrov also pointed out that Russia’s relations with Turkey cannot continue in accordance with the ‘business as usual’ principle after the attack on the Sukhoi Su-24 jet.
“It is clear that the relations between Russia and Turkey cannot develop in this situation on the basis of the ‘business as usual’ principle,” he said. “We regard this step by Turkey as contravening the task of combating terrorism.”
