Moscow supports the notion of hosting a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad, Russia's presidential envoy for Syria, Alexandr Lavrentyev, revealed on Friday.

"We believe such a meeting would be generally positive and beneficial and we’re working towards it," Lavrentyev told a UAE-based television network as he commented on Ankara-Damascus relations.

Lavrentyev reiterated that Türkiye "should consider" the idea.

"A contact between Erdoğan and Assad depends not on time but willingness," the Russian envoy argued. "We are saying that there is a mutual willingness. We’re receiving such hints from President Erdoğan."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov also repeated Moscow’s desire to mediate on the Ankara-Damascus line.

"We express that we always stand ready for this (meeting) and state it would be right. However, a concrete step on a political level is yet to be taken on this. It all depends on the willingness of the sides. We’re not imposing anything on anyone," Bogdanov noted and assured Moscow would "of course respond positively" should a request come from Ankara and Damascus.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov also echoed his fellow statesmen at a press briefing in Moscow on Friday, saying there was "such a possibility although nothing is certain yet."

"Mr. Putin would welcome it and Russia is ready to contribute to the process," Peskov noted.

Indeed, last Sunday, the Turkish leader indicated that Türkiye-Syria ties "could develop in the future in a similar manner to how Türkiye developed ties with Egypt".

After nine years of tensions between Ankara and Cairo, Erdoğan shook hands with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Qatar on Nov. 21, a step that was considered a move in the direction of mending fences, which led many to ponder whether Türkiye would follow a similar warming policy with the leader of the Syrian regime. Erdoğan previously suggested he could meet with Assad when "the right time comes," reinforcing tentative recent steps to restore ties between the two sides.

Simultaneously, the Turkish leader has also been signaling a ground operation "at the most suitable time" into northern Syria against the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, in retaliation for a series of terrorist attacks in mid-November that left in total eight dead and more than 100 people injured in Türkiye.

Following the terrorist attacks, Russia on Nov. 22 called for de-escalation along the Türkiye-Syria border, with Lavrentyev personally urging Ankara to "exercise restraint" in its use of military force in Syria and to keep tensions from boiling over.

Lavrentyev said Türkiye had not notified Russia in advance about its strikes on Syria and Iraq.

"We hope to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from using excessive force on Syrian territory," Lavrentyev said. He added that Russia would work with interested parties to find a peaceful solution to the issue.

The next day, Türkiye and members of the Syrian regime and opposition held talks in Astana alongside Russia and Iran as guarantors of the peace process established for a solution to the Syrian crisis. The sides pledged to "further resist separatist plans aimed at undermining Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity and threatening the national security of neighboring countries, including through cross-border attacks and infiltration."

Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian moderate opposition in their last major territorial foothold in the northwest after Assad defeated the opposition across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.

Türkiye has long emphasized the necessity of a strong central administration to prevent the disintegration of Syria and the need to take steps for rebuilding the civil war-torn country since 2011.

Ankara has also often stressed Türkiye’s aim in Syria is not to defeat Assad’s regime but to find a political solution to the crisis and to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Erdoğan earlier this year said, "We take responsibility to solve the Syrian problem for regional peace, and to protect Türkiye from threats. Political dialogue or diplomacy between states can never be cut off. There are always these kinds of dialogues, there should be. The regime must know this."