FILE PHOTO: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Russia September 17, 2018. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his Turkish counterpart on Tuesday that Moscow and Ankara needed to take swift decisions to support a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib Province.

Russia earlier this month accused rebels in the insurgent-held region of trying to wreck a Russian-Turkish initiative to create a demilitarized zone there.

Shoigu, speaking to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, was cited by Russian news agencies as saying that the two countries needed to act to defend their initiative.