RPT: Putin urges joint anti-terrorism efforts after Ankara deadly blasts

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday urged the necessity of uniting anti-terrorism efforts as he expressed condolences to families of victims from the deadly terrorist attack in Ankara, capital of Turkey.

"It is necessary to unite efforts in the fight against this evil. What happened in Turkey ... certainly is an impudent terrorist attack, a terrorist crime with scores of victims," Putin said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya One.

He stressed that the attack was an attempt to destabilize the situation in Turkey, an "obvious" provocation during the election campaign.

Earlier Saturday, twin explosions targeted a peace rally at the central railway station in the Turkish capital of Ankara, leaving at least 86 people killed and up to 186 wounded.

While expressing sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the bomb attacks, Putin said Russia is ready to cooperate with Turkey to fight with terrorist threats.

On Sept. 30, Russia started to carry out the airstrikes against positions of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria, a move that had been criticized by the U.S. to be mainly aiming at striking Syria's anti-government rebels.

While claiming the airstrikes have significantly diminished the military capacity of the IS, Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that "constructive" discussions were conducted Saturday during the second video conference with the U.S. on implementation of specific procedures to ensure safe air operations over Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in an online statement that "progress was made during the talks, and the U.S. agreed to another discussion with Russia in the near future."

In the past 24 hours, 55 IS targets in Syria were destroyed during 64 sorties carried out by Russian aircraft, said the ministry. Endit