Turkish, Russian top diplomats discuss Syria over phone

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his counterpart Russian Sergey Lavrov discussed Syria over phone, said a Turkish diplomatic source on Wednesday.

Çavuşoğlu and Lavrov exchanged views on the developments in Syria, an upcoming conference on the war-torn country in Russia's coastal city of Sochi and also cease-fire violations by the Bashar al-Assad regime, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

It added the phone call was arranged upon Lavrov's request.

Sochi is the designated venue of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress set for Jan. 29-30. The congress is expected to be attended by all sectors of Syrian society except for terror groups.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.