Russian Defense Ministry Officials Could Soon Visit Turkey for Talks on Syria

High-ranking officials from the Russian Defense Ministry could soon visit Ankara for talks on the Syrian issue, the Russian Kommersant newspaper reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Turkey and Russia are currently engaged in a "rather tight exchange of different kinds of information," constantly maintaining contact, a Russian Defense Ministry source told the newspaper on Saturday, not excluding that Russian officials could soon come to Turkey.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, discussing the situation in Syria.

The talks were initiated at the Turkish side's request and focused on the broad military and humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in the war-torn city of Aleppo.

Ankara announced on Wednesday that Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, had begun a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus of militants from the Islamic State (ISIL, also known as Daesh) jihadist group, outlawed in many countries.

Turkish media reported on Friday that a planned visit of head of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, to Turkey had been postponed.

Also on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the Syrian issue with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva.