Russia says tried to persuade Turkey to cancel Syria operation

Russia tried to persuade Turkey to cancel plans for a military operation in Syria during talks in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the TASS news agency cited Moscow’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentyev as saying on Thursday.

“We tried to convince them the issue needs to be resolved through peaceful means, without resorting to violence because that could lead to escalation,” TASS quoted Lavrentyev as saying.