Lavrov Tells Cavusoglu Moscow is Ready for Settlement of Ukraine Crisis - Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Minister briefs Turkish top diplomat on Russia’s operation in Donbass

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has briefed his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Russia’s special military operation in Donbass, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following a phone call between the two top diplomats on Saturday.

"While discussing the current situation around Ukraine and in the region on the whole, Sergey Lavrov provided his Turkish counterpart with detailed information on the special military operation that the Russian Armed Forces are conducting in Donbass together with the militias of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics based on the decisions made by the Russian leadership," the statement reads.

"Russia highlighted its readiness to cooperate with all the constructive forces in order to find an early and sustainable solution to the Ukraine issue in the interests of peace and stability," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed, adding that the parties had also discussed bilateral relations and agreed to maintain contact.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later that the Russian Armed Forces were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. The ministry emphasized that the Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons and there was no threat to civilians.