MOSCOW (Kommersant) — During a press conference in Cairo on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Ankara against encouraging Kiev’s “militaristic aspirations”. This statement came in response to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s trip to Istanbul.

When asked whether Russia is concerned over the military-technical cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine, Lavrov said:

I will tell you straight away that we urge all responsible countries that we communicate with — and Turkey is one of them — that we strongly recommend they analyze the situation and the Kiev regime’s relentless belligerent statements, and we also warn them against encouraging these militaristic aspirations.

This matter arose after Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to Istanbul on Saturday, and the reports of the first launch of Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 drone in Donbass.

Lavrov’s statement on Turkey was made only a few hours before the Russian government’s decision to restrict air service with Turkey due to the COVID-19 situation there. The tone of the statement clearly contrasted with the atmosphere of mutual understanding between Moscow and Cairo on foreign policy issues. It should be noted that the minister chose to criticize Turkey in Egypt, which is considered Ankara’s rival in the region, as Cairo has a negative view of Turkish ambitions in Africa and Arab states, Kommersant notes. Their rivalry was highlighted in Libya, where Egypt supported the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the government in eastern Libya, while Turkey aided the Government of National Accord in Tripoli.