Turkey's foreign minister says waiting for Russian response on meeting request

Foreign ministers of the two countries are due to attend OSCE ministerial council in Belgrade on December 3

ANKARA: Turkey's foreign minister said on Wednesday he had requested to meet his Russian counterpart in Belgrade this week and was still waiting for a response, adding he does not want tension with Moscow to escalate.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is attending a NATO meeting of foreign ministers, made the comments to national broadcaster TRT. Both he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to attend the OSCE ministerial council in Belgrade, Serbia, which takes place on Thursday and Friday.



The statement came after Russian Defence Ministry officials said on Wednesday that they had proof Turkey was the main consumer of Islamic State oil and that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were involved in doing business with Islamic State.

The officials, speaking at an event in Moscow, cited satellite imagery which they said showed oil tanker trucks heading from Islamic State territory to Turkey and said they knew of three routes by which the oil passed into Turkey.