MOSCOW: Russia said late on Sunday it had sent more military police to an area in northern Syria where fighters backed by Turkey have clashed with Kurdish forces near a strategic highway patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops.

The deployment comes ahead of talks in southern Russia on Tuesday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Syria, where Moscow and Ankara have backed different sides, is one of the topics the two diplomats will discuss.

Battles between Turkey-backed fighters and Kurdish forces broke out near the town of Ain Issa in northern Syria earlier this month. The town Ain Issa sits along the M4 highway that links major Syrian cities and where Russian-Turkish patrols usually take place.

Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies seized territory in the region in an offensive last year against the Kurdish YPG militia which holds swathes of north and east Syria.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement it had sent more military police to the area on Sunday.

Reuters