Putin on US’s Syria Policies: Some Partners Have Mush for Brains

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has censured as mindless the United States policies vis-à-vis Syria and Washington’s refusal to cooperate with Moscow on ending the crisis in Syria.

“I believe some of our partners simply have mush for brains,” Putin said at an investment forum in the Russian capital, Moscow, on Tuesday, adding that Washington has declined to share intelligence on Syria.

 “How is it possible to work together?” the Russian president said.

He added that his country has offered US authorities to have talks at a high military-political level on the resolution of the crisis in Syria.

“We proposed a meeting at the high military-political level in Moscow. I said that we can send a major delegation to Washington to primarily discuss the issues of Syrian settlement, but there is no response so far. We believe that it would be a serious authoritative delegation headed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev,” Putin said.

 

‘Contributing to the fight against terror’

Putin also said Russia is fighting terrorism in Syria, and not striving for leadership there.

“We are not in pursuit of any leadership in Syria. There is only one leader that can be in Syria, it is the Syrian people. We are striving for contribution to the fight against terrorism, something that is dangerous for both US and Russia, for European countries, as well as for the rest of the world, without any kind of exaggeration,” the Russian president stated.

Putin said Russia, Europe, and the United States should join hands and encourage all parties involved in the crisis in Syria to seek out a solution.

“If we want to be effective and not just shoot and carry out missile airstrikes, but to achieve an actual political resolution, we need to encourage all forces inside the country to jointly work within the territory of Syria itself,” he said.

The Russian leader also expressed concern over weapons and munitions being airdropped by US forces to foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants in Syria, warning that the campaign would fail just like the program to train and equip the so-called moderate militants.

Since September 2014, the US and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against purported positions of the TakfiriDaesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Russia began its own military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.

Daesh loses ‘most’ military equipment in Russia airstrikes

On the other hand, Moscow says the TakfiriDaesh terrorist group has suffered major losses in Russia’s ongoing airstrikes against its positions in Syria, highlighting that a great proportion of munitions used by the militants has been destroyed.

 “Russian airstrikes resulted in the elimination of the majority of ISIS (Daesh) ammunition, heavy vehicles and equipment,” the Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday.

“According to radio intercepts in the Hama and Homs provinces, the militants experience an acute shortage of ammunition for small arms and grenade launchers. Some field commanders have stated demands to their leadership that if they do not receive arms in the near future, they will withdraw their groups from the combat zone,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov also told reporters in the capital, Moscow.

“Today, there are no longer caravans [transporting weapons], but maneuverable groups of off-road vehicles, usually moving at night with cargo for terrorists,” the official added.

Konashenkov said a ramp-up in Russia’s airstrikes in Syria has forced Daesh to “set in motion the entire logistics network available to the terrorists in order to transport ammunition and fuel from the Raqqa Province.”

Russian twin-engined, twin-seat Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter jets recently carried out a precision strike near the city of Latamna, Syria’s western-central province of Hama, completely destroying an arms depot used by the terrorists.

Konashenkov added that Russia’s Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes have also struck a convoy carrying fuel and weapons destined for Daesh in the northwestern province of Aleppo.

“A fuel tanker, three trucks carrying ammunition and two cars equipped with large-caliber submachine guns escorting them were eliminated,” the Russian Defense Ministry official said.

Sorties continue to target Daesh positions

The Russian military aircraft have carried out 88 sorties on 86 terrorist positions in the provinces of Raqqa, Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo over the past 24 hours, Konashenkov said Tuesday.

PRESS T.V

R.S