“We support it from the air, as well as the Syrian army, we assist them with weapons, ammunition and provide material support”.
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A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin has refuted the president’s statement earlier Friday that Russia is supplying weapons to a leading Western-backed opposition group in Syria.
“I am talking about contact with the Israeli Air Force command posts and with the forces of the [anti-IS] coalition led by the U.S.”, Putin said, before moving on to praise the military for its efforts against the terrorist group. He said it is only providing air cover.
The Russian defence ministry said it had upped the intensity of its strikes in Syria since Saturday, dropping 1,920 bombs over the past four days. Tensions between the two countries remain high. But he criticised Moscow for using every platform to target Turkey after the plane crisis, including its bringing a controversial Turkish troop deployment in Iraq to the agenda of the UN Security Council.
Cavusoglu told NTV television: “If we are not responding to all that they have done until now, it is not because we are afraid or because any psychology of guilt”.
Defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has received 35 intercontinental ballistic missiles this year and put forward equally ambitious weapons modernisation plans for next year despite Russia’s economic downturn.
Putin’s call for a tougher military response is also likely to cause concern among monitors who have repeatedly accused Russian Federation of conducting an indiscriminate bombing campaign and killing civilians in Syria.
The opposition group denied Russia’s past claims of cooperation and has instead said Russian airstrikes are actually targeting it.
“Russia strongly backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, but now Putin seems to be saying that he is also aiding some groups that oppose both Assad and the Islamic State”.
According to Shoigu, in 2015, the Russian military received 243 new aircraft, 90 new air defense systems, 208 radar systems, 18,000 modern communications units – but in total received about 57 fewer units of arms than in 2014.
Russia and Turkey have been exchanging barbs and warnings since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that Ankara says was in Turkish air space.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against staging new provocations against Russian forces in Syria.
