Russian and Turkish foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed coordination of steps on the Syrian settlement by phone, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The ministers exchanged New Year greetings and discussed plans for cooperation between foreign ministries for 2023, including further coordination of steps to facilitate a Syrian settlement," the statement said.

On December 28, the defense ministers of Turkey, Russia and Syria held talks in Moscow for the first time in 11 years. The Russian Defense Ministry said after the meeting that the ministers discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis and the refugee problem, as well as joint efforts to combat extremist groups on the territory of Syria.

In 2011, a civil war began in Syria. Turkey, which had maintained close relations with Damascus before the conflict, sided with the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, Turkey's relations with Syria have remained difficult. In recent weeks, however, both sides, as well as some media outlets, have started talking about the possibility of a gradual normalization.

Turkey conducted military operations in northern Syria in 2016, 2018 and 2019 to secure the withdrawal of Kurdish formations that are not under Damascus' control from the border areas. Ankara considers these formations to be terrorist. In recent months, Turkey has planned another ground operation to achieve a final solution to the Syrian Kurdish problem.