U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Moscow on Thursday with a proposal to boost military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russian Federation against Islamic State and al Qaeda camps in Syria, despite doubts among U.S. officials.
Advertisement
United States Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Moscow this week to discuss the format and content of a roadmap for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.
The olive branch comes despite criticism from both the U.S. and U.S.-led coalition member states of Russian strikes in Syria, which have claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, according to monitoring groups.
“At present we are not conducting or coordinating military operations with Russian Federation, nor is it clear we will reach an agreement to do so”, the official said.
The talks “have a target date of August”, de Mistura said, adding that they need to be “a credible beginning of a roadmap towards a political transition”.
A USA defense official told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that the Pentagon is already attempting to constrain coordination efforts and the amount of intelligence shared between Washington and Moscow.
It said Shell had a valid US passport and visa to Russian Federation.
A close ally of the government in Damascus, Russia has intervened directly in the conflict since October 2015, when it began air strikes in support of regime forces.
And according to Assad, the “very frank” relationship he has with Putin is rooted in their shared values and common interest: defeating terrorists.
Asked about the death of veteran USA journalist Marie Catherine Colvin, who was killed during shelling on rebel-held areas in the central city of Homs in 2012, Assad said the Syrian troops had no idea Colvin was there at the time.
Jeff Shell, a Hollywood executive who also chairs the board that oversees USA government broadcasting overseas – including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe – was detained when he landed at Moscow’s Sheremetevo global airport late Tuesday, the board said in a statement.
Both the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front are defined as terrorist groups by the UN Security Council, and they are not party to the much-breached ceasefire in place between Assad’s forces and more moderate rebel groups.
“That’s why you don’t see achievements between them (Russians) and the Americans because they have different principles”, he said.
Advertisement
Despite repeated announcements of ceasefires, Syrian government forces have continued offensives on a range of fronts, with fighting especially heavy around second city Aleppo in recent weeks.
