In accordance with the agreement signed with Turkey, Russian military police and Syrian border guards began patrolling the north-east of the country.
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After more than six hours of face-to-face talks in Sochi, Russia's seaside town on the Black Sea coast, Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan have reached a ten-point deal aimed at securing territories located in the northeast of Syria. of the "Crucial decisions" have been taken in order to help "To solve the rather critical situation that has developed at the Syrian-Turkish border"Vladimir Putin said after the meeting.
It is here that the Turkish army and its Syrian auxiliaries launched on October 9 an offensive against Kurdish fighters considered as 'Terrorists' by Ankara who fears, eventually, the formation of a Kurdistan on its southern markets, likely to give ideas to the 15 million Kurds in Turkey.
Released by the United States, their main partner in the struggle against the Islamic State (IS), the Syrian Kurdish forces have agreed with Moscow and Damascus to avoid being massacred by the Turks and their Syrian affiliates known for their exactions, looting, summary executions, kidnappings for ransom.
To counter the Turkish advance, Bashar al-Assad's army and the Russian military police occupied the territories just evacuated by US forces. The Sochi agreement reinforces this team.
On Wednesday, 23 October at noon, the Russian military police and Syrian border guards will start patrolling the area together to a depth of thirty kilometers. It is "Facilitate the withdrawal" Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons, in accordance with the requirements of the Turkish side. The withdrawal must be completed within one hundred and fifty hours, ie by Tuesday, October 29th.
Above all, the agreement marks the end of the Turkish offensive against the Kurds, dubbed "Source of Peace" by Ankara. "At this stage, there is no need to conduct a new operation", the Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement released Tuesday night.
"If it is followed, the agreement can be a long-term solution to close this crisis. Nevertheless, there is serious uncertainty about future developments in the coming hours and the withdrawal of Kurdish forces. If this withdrawal was negotiated upstream between Damascus and the Kurdish representatives, it is a big blow from Moscow. If it has not been negotiated yet, it will be more difficult "says Maxime Soutchkov, expert for the Middle East at the Russian Council for International Affairs.
