Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in Ankara on Thursday with the Russian president's special envoy for the Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentyev.
Lavrentiev last visited Ankara on May 24, when he had come directly from talks the day earlier in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an eye-catching itinerary that startled analysts.
On that occasion, he met with Erdoğan's spokesman İbrahim Kalın and top foreign ministry officials. In Moscow, the foreign ministry said only they had discussed "tasks aimed at advancing the political solution in Syria".
Erdoğan and Putin also held the latest in a series of phone conversations on Tuesday, discussing issues including Syria.