Russia’s Lavrov says will not refuse to meet Turkish counterpart in Belgrade

He said the request for a meeting during an upcoming OSCE summit to be held Thursday and Friday in Belgrade came from Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu during a phone conversation between the two after the incident.

With security on high alert, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday went from the Presidential Palace to the Foreign ministry in Nicosia for talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides.

Russia’s foreign minister says he won’t refuse a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Serbia’s capital this week to hear what Turkey’s explanations on the downing of a Russian air force jet. Lavrov is also scheduled to meet the Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos and the President of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he waves to the media…

“It is clear that the relations between Russian Federation and Turkey can not develop in this situation on the basis of the “business as usual” principle”, he said.

Turkey has been hit by a wide range of sanctions by Russian Federation after it shot down the Su-24 jet for violating Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.

Russian Federation responded harshly, with Putin declaring Russian Federation had been “stabbed in the back by the accomplices of terrorists”, referring to Turkey’s alleged underhanded oil dealings with the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “Terrorism must be defeated”, Lavrov added during the reception.