As a warning to Turkey, Putin said any targets threatening Russian Federation “must be immediately destroyed”.
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Russia is supplying weapons to “the legitimate authorities” of Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, referring to comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin about weapon supplies to the Free Syrian Army. A US-led coalition of western and Arab states have been launching air strikes against IS fighters in Syria and Iraq for more than a year.
The latest news related to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with top military officials in Moscow.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold meetings with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his visit to Moscow next week, State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner announced in a release on Friday. “Several units totaling more than 5,000 people, along with regular troops, are conducting offensive operations against terrorists in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Raqqa”, Putin said in a speech to military officers.
He said that a steady series of military exercises have helped improve servicemen’s skills and contributed to a successful performance of Russian pilots during the ongoing air campaign in Syria.
“I order you to act in the toughest way”, Putin said. “Any targets threatening the Russian grouping or our land infrastructure should be immediately destroyed”.
Syrian rebels are being provided with military support and air cover against Islamist militants, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“We support it from the air, as well as the Syrian army, we assist them with weapons, ammunition and provide material support”.
It wasn’t immediately possible to confirm his statement.
Russia and Turkey have been plunged in their worst crisis since the Cold War over Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane on the border with Syria on November 24.
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”.
He said the Russian military base in Syria has been bolstered with additional aircraft and air defence weapons.
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“Our actions there are not guided by some unclear abstract geopolitical interests, nor are they guided by a desire to practice and test new weapons systems which is of course important in itself”, Putin said.
