Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to have their first face-to-face meeting of 2019 on Wednesday.

Axar.az reports citing Anadolu News Agency.

During Erdogan's one-day working visit to the Russian capital Moscow, the two leaders will exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia.

Prior to his visit, an article penned by Erdogan titled "Turkey-Russia cooperation, critical for resolving the crisis in Syria" was published on Russian daily Kommersant last week.

"We will not seek advice on how to deal with a terrorist group from anyone whose activities have been directed against our citizens for more than 30 years, or ask for permission to fight terrorism.

"We reserve the right, when the appropriate conditions will arise, to pursue terrorists who threaten our country from Syrian territory," Erdogan said in the article.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey had no problem with Syrian Kurds nor any other groups living inside the borders of the neighboring country.

Stating that the U.S. pullout from Syria was "a step in right direction," Erdogan said: "The Syrian crisis can be resolved only by those countries that benefit from the healing of Syria's wounds and be harmed by their festering."

In late December, U.S President Donald Trump announced that the U.S.-led coalition succeeded in militarily defeating the Daesh terrorist group, his "only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency”, in Syria.

Emphasizing that it is time for American forces to return home, Trump later signaled a “slow and highly coordinated pullout” of U.S. troops from Syria following the suggestions of U.S. national security bureaucracy.

When Trump proposed the idea of a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria last week, U.S. officials demanded Turkey to guarantee that it will not conduct an operation against terrorist group YPG/PKK.

Turkey backed the idea of a safe zone in Syria, while it opposed the U.S. request for protection of the terrorists.