“We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to co-operate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face”, said Mr Putin. The proposal does not need to go to another legislative body.
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Moscow insists its operations are geared toward protecting ally President Assad, versus attacking anti-regime forces that the U.S.is supporting in its fight against ISIS.
That buildup, however, does give an advantage to Putin on the ground, with troops and artillery supporting Assad against the Islamic State as well as anti-government rebels. He said he would have further talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov here on Wednesday.
The minister urged that different forces should be coordinated in the anti-terror fight in “pragmatic, reasonable and rational” way.
But there seems little, if any, hope for a united front on Syria’s civil war, which killed 18,000 civilians previous year alone and is the root cause of the refugee crisis in Europe.
“So while we hope that the process will succeed, I believe, given the position of Russian Federation and Iran, our hope is not that great”.
A defense official said on condition of anonymity that the United States was limiting intelligence sharing with Iraq because of Iraq’s military relationship with its eastern neighbor. He said the coalition can claim victory over the notorious organisation only if current Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad steps down.
The Kremlin reported that Putin hosted a meeting of the Russian security council at his residence Tuesday night outside of Moscow, saying that they were discussing terrorism and extremism. While addressing the group gathered at the summit, Obama also noted that bringing down the terrorist outfit would take time.
“We have an understanding that it is necessary to ramp up our work at least at the bilateral level”, Putin told reporters.
Russian opposition was rattled by the Kremlin’s request and the way the vote was held.
“I will tell you that, in terms of leadership, he’s getting an “A” and our president is not doing so well,” he said.
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“So is he going to target all of Assad’s enemies, or is it just going to be Islamic State?”
