Top Russian and Turkish ministers agreed during a meeting in Moscow on Saturday to maintain cooperation in northern Syria as US forces prepare to withdraw and Turkey threatens to launch a military operation against US-backed Kurdish forces controlling nearly a third of the country.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said before the talks began that they would focus on the situation in and around Idlib, as well as ‘‘what can and should be done’’ when the United States withdraws from Syria.

After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that much of the discussion focused on the pending US withdrawal, and that Russia and Turkey managed to agree on coordinating their steps in Syria ‘‘to ultimately eradicate the terrorist threat.’’