Russia suggests that the US-led coalition warplanes fighting against ISIS in Syria and Iraq should conduct joint missions with Russia in Syria.
“Taking such a step would help the progress of the peace settlement in Syria. Of course such measures have been agreed with the Syrian Arab Republic. Yesterday we started negotiating these measures with our colleagues in Oman and Geneva,” Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on May 20.
Shoigu added that Russia began to coordinate these measures with “colleagues” on May 19, reffering a US center for peace negotiations based in the Jordanian capital and the city of Vienna, where UN-backed peace negotiations are scheduled.
“We’re proposing to the United States as a co-chairman of the International Syria Support Group to start joint operations of the Russian air task force and the US-led aviation from May 25 to plan and deliver strikes against Jabhat al-Nusra groups, illegal armed formations that are rejecting the ceasefire regime, and also against the caravans with weapons and ammunition, armed units illegally crossing the Syrian-Turkish border and in these operations exclude strikes against civilian facilities and populated areas,” Shoigu said.
The Pentagon denied the proposal.
“We do not collaborate or coordinate our operation with the Russians. As the Secretary [Carter] has said, Russian operations are supporting and enabling the Assad Regime which is like pouring fuel on a fire. We remain focused solely on degrading and defeating ISIL [Islamic State],” Sputniknews agency cites US Department of Defense spokesman Matthew Allen.
