Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Aug. 14 in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, with Syria dominating the agenda, largely against the backdrop of a planned Sept. 7 meeting of the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Germany and France in Istanbul.

The close dialogue on Syria between Turkey and Russia has grown even stronger due to US sanctions on the latter two nations. Lavrov has said Americans are trying to derail the Astana, Kazakhstan, peace process and bring Turkey to their side. The sanctions, however, are undermining the US efforts.

A Lavrov-Cavusoglu press conference in Ankara revolved around two main issues — the US sanctions and the situation in Syria. Both topics seem inseparably intertwined.

The ministers’ meeting took place against the background of the United States imposing sanctions on Russia, Turkey and Iran almost at the same time. All three countries cooperate on the Syrian problem within the Astana format, so journalists covering the meeting wanted to know seriously the sanctions would influence the crisis in the region, particularly the coordination on the Syrian dossier and Russia’s efforts to determine how to deal with all the Syrian refugees. Both ministers condemned the US sanctions. Lavrov pointed out, however, that he doesn't think the sanctions are directly connected to the Syrian crisis. He believes the West, and particularly the United States, "want to prevent the Astana process from achieving actual results and aim to portray it as a failure.”