Sergey Lavrov

The top Turkish diplomat is set to pay a visit to Sochi next week and meet his Russian counterpart, according to diplomatic sources.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will meet with Sergey Lavrov on Dec. 29. The two officials are expected to address bilateral relations as well as regional issues.

It pertains to the icon that he gave to the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, and which Ukraine claims was stolen from the Lugansk region.

A three-centuries-old gilded icon, presented to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by Milorad Dodik, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be returned amid a row over its origins, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the Russian media.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vui, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, visited the Temple of Saint Sava in Vraar, where they laid flowers on the grave of the recently deceased Patriarch Irinej.

Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu held a phone conversation with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Dec. 8 after a period of strained ties between two countries. They discussed regional issues and bilateral relations, the Turkish diplomatic sources said.

Ankara, Moscow and Tehran agreed to hold a videoconference and then a face-to-face meeting on the Syrian settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on June 16. 

He also said that it would be one of the key topics during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, to Belgrade on June 18.
Botsan-Kharchenko said that this would be Lavrov's first trip abroad after the coronavirus pandemic.

Top Turkish and Russian diplomats discussed the issue of tourism on a phone call on June 8 amid the coronavirus crisis said Turkish diplomatic sources.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov also discussed regional issues, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, but gave no further details.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will start a visit to Serbia on June 18, according to his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic. The visit appeared timed to coincide with the end of the election campaign in the strongly pro-Russian country.

Warlord Khalifa Haftar is a coup plotter and Ankara continues to support Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), said Turkey's ruling party spokesman on April 28.