(Bloomberg) -- Turkey will send a delegation to Russia on Monday to discuss the latest developments in Idlib, where Syrian regime forces killed more than a dozen Turkish soldiers in two separate attacks this month.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week called for troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to pull back from areas surrounding Turkish outposts in Syria. The forces, who are backed by Russia, face paying a “heavy price” for their actions should Turkish troops come under fire, he said.

Turkey would prefer to resolve the issue through diplomacy with Russia, but is ready to take the “necessary steps” should those efforts fail, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in televised remarks in Munich, Germany, where he’s attending a security conference.

Read: Turkish Military Pours Into Syria to Block Idlib’s Fall (1)

To contact the reporter on this story: Onur Ant in Istanbul at oant@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, James Cone

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