A round of talks between Russia and Turkey, resulted Friday in determining the agreements between the two countries on the next stage for Syria. Foreign and defense ministers of both countries agreed to postpone discussing Idlib till the upcoming summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran in Tehran during the first week of September. In a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to an agreement between the two parties to push forward the political settlement in Syria as well as resolving disagreements on a number of issues. The ministers have also discussed Syria and the speedy completion of work to create the Syrian Constitutional Commission. "We discussed international problems, focused on Syria, reviewed implementation of the agreements reached within the framework of Astana format at the highest level,” Lavrov told a press conference, adding that they also reviewed the implementation of “the Syrian National Dialogue that took place in Sochi within the framework of creating a constitutional commission. We discussed the tasks of its prompt completion.” The Russian Minister asserted that Turkey is Russias key partners. “We see an increase in our economic relations. We intend to build up our military-technical cooperation," Lavrov said. He noted the need for building up "practical cooperation" in the field of military-technical cooperation, as well as other areas such as automotive, agriculture and banking sectors. According to Russian experts, Washington’s pressures gave Moscow an important opportunity to promote rapprochement with Turkey on Syria and other political and economic issues. With regard to expanding the Astana format, the Russian top official indicated it is not a top priority now, adding there are many opportunities to cooperate without any formal changes in the flexible Astana or Sochi process. Speaking about the situation in Idlib and efforts to separate the armed opposition from the terrorist organizations, Lavrov said there are many civilians in the city along with the armed opposition, who are interested in participating in the settlement processes. The Minister asserted there are several tens of thousands of militants from the “so-called Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra group, who are trying to control this entire territory and hamper the settlement efforts, in particular, those undertaken by Turkey." In addition, Lavrov noted that these matters are being discussed by the foreign ministries and by the respective military forces, as well as the special services. “We are not done yet. We will hold additional meetings with the participation of all our partners, so we will be able to provide more information a little later,” he asserted. Turkish FM Cavusoglu noted that Turkey considers “it is very important that those radical groups and terrorists are rendered ineffective,” indicating that it is important for Turkey because they are on the other side of its border. “They pose a threat to us first,” he asserted. “Separating the civilians from the combatants in Idlib is important for everyone, but a solution through force would lead to a new wave of refugees and a humanitarian catastrophe,” warned Cavusoglu. Cavusoglu also said the political process in Syria should be started as soon as possible, stating that a list of member-candidates for a constitutional committee was submitted. “Establishing a constitutional committee immediately is important for Syria’s future. We back this process,” the Turkish minister indicated. Later, Dmitry Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin received Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu and Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar in the Kremlin. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Special Presidential Representative for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentyev. In related news, Russian Defense Ministry announced that Minister Shoigu and his Turkish counterpart Khulosi Akar discussed stability in Syria, as well as technical military cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile, Moscow denied White House statements that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked his Russian counterpart Lavrov to support Washington’s efforts to hold the Syrian authorities accountable for the use of chemical weapons in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova refuted the reports saying such distorted presentation of the conversation between top officials is Washington’s attempt to use bilateral dialogue on Syria to promote its own political agenda both in relation to Syria and within the OPCW. "We hope that in the future the US will be more careful in its comments on the outcomes of contacts between our two countries’ top diplomats,” asserted Zakharova.