Syrian rebels debunked reports of receiving aid from Moscow, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his air force has been supporting opposition factions battling jihadists.
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The latest news from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s end of year news conference.
Addressing an annual news conference in Moscow, Putin said Russian Federation was cooperating with the United States over Syria. “It carried out a hostile act against our aircraft, but claiming that we consider Turkey a hostile state would be incorrect”, Putin told reporters. “I believe that the Syrian authorities should be OK with it too, although they may not like something in it”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry recently traveled to Moscow to try and bridge the gap between world powers the US and Russian Federation on the issue.
“We will help settle this crisis in every possible way”, Putin said. He noted that the American side is ready to move towards cooperation with Russian Federation.
Speaking to journalists after his annual news conference on Thursday, Putin called Trump an “absolute front-runner” in the presidential race and a “bright and talented person”. He said he did not think that Russian Federation needed a permanent military based in Russian Federation.
Putin spoke about the many foreign crises that Russia is entangled in, commenting on Syria and Ukraine, as well as Russia’s relations with Turkey following the shooting down of a Russian bomber by Turkish jets last month.
On Wednesday, FSA chief of staff General Ahmad Berri also denied receiving any Russian support, but said Moscow had provided aid to fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). He was referring to a Russian warplane that was shot down by Turkey near the Syrian border. He said Russian Federation and the US agree on the need to ensure the drafting of a new constitution for Syria and create mechanisms of control over future elections, in which Syrians themselves will determine their leadership. He said they live in Russian Federation and “live their own life and do it with dignity”.
“Did they think that we will leave?”
“On domestic politics, his manner of speaking, what he employs to raise his popularity” – that is none of Russia’s business, Putin said.
“If Turkey flew there all the time before, breaching Syrian airspace, well, let’s see how they fly now”.
“We had calculated next year’s budget based on $50 per barrel”. Putin said the campaign will continue until work begins on a political settlement.
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Despite the economic pain, polls show Putin’s ratings, which were boosted by his decision to annex Ukraine’s Crimea previous year and to launch air strikes in Syria, remain at around 85 percent, not far off their record highs of nearly 90 percent in October.
