After almost six hours of intense talks in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck an agreement on the fate of northeast Syria. The deal came on the heels of the U.S.-Turkey ceasefire deal struck on Oct. 17 which was used as a temporary step to create a new status quo in the region.

The new Russia-Turkey arrangement lays a good groundwork for the final settlement of the conflict in northeast Syria. This is not to say there aren’t going to be obstacles going forward, but the agreement has created a realistic path.

The plan envisages withdrawing of all Kurdish People’s Protection (YPG) fighters and their weapons to the depth of 32 kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border, which should be finalized in 150 hours. As of today, Russian military police and Syrian government border guards will oversee the withdrawal of YPG forces and weapons to beyond 30 kilometers of the Turkish border.

After that, joint Russia-Turkey forces will patrol the area within 10 kilometers of the Syria-Turkey border.

After the talks with Erdogan, Putin phoned Assad to tell him about the agreement and its details. The Syrian president expressed his full support for the agreement and his readiness to implement it.

A win-win

Putin and Erdogan managed to strike a deal that takes into account both countries’ interests.

It is safe to say that they got what they wanted out of the meeting. Turkey received guarantees from Russia and Damascus that Kurdish forces will be removed from its border. It also received the right to monitor a 10 kilometers zone south of the Syrian border together with the Russian military police, creating a safe-zone — something Erdogan has wanted for years.