Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks Tuesday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to prepare for a four-way Syria summit with the leaders of Russia, France, Turkey and Germany next month.
“What we expected has been realized concerning the need for Europeans and others to play a role in the reconstruction of Syria, which is estimated at no less than $400 billion,” European diplomatic sources in Paris told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.
The sources explained that next month’s summit in Istanbul is the result of European (French-German) rapprochement with Turkey and Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice in the past 15 months and the two men speak frequently over the phone. They last spoke last week.
Paris considers Moscow as the “motor” of the Istanbul summit because it has been promoting the idea of “reconstruction in exchange for the return of refugees.”
The same applies to the relationship between Moscow and Berlin. Putin will visit Germany on Sunday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel at the German government's 18th century Schloss Meseberg palace. Both leaders will mainly discuss the Syrian file.
Also, Berlin and Paris were not embarrassed to welcome Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, the current Russian chief of staff, although he was recently sanctioned by the European Union due to Russian interference in Ukraine.
In line with the European-Russian talks, European-Turkish contacts are ongoing, despite the current tense relationship between Ankara and Washington.
In both rapports, there is an entente between Moscow, Paris, Berlin and Ankara over the file of refugees and the reconstruction of Syria.
On Tuesday, Lavrov will meet with his Turkish counterpart to develop a joint position over means to settle the situation in opposition-held Idlib and Moscow’s suggestion for the return of refugees.
The Russian and Turkish foreign ministers have already met several times since the beginning of the year. Their latest meeting took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN events in Singapore on August 2.
