Mattis: US and Russian militaries are collaborating to prevent incidents in Syrian air space
The Russian and American militaries are collaborating in Syria in order to avoid possible incidents while carrying out combat flights, but this does not involve coordination of operations, US Minister of Defense James Mattis told reporters.
“We (the US) are cooperating with Russia to prevent incidents, in order to ensure the safety of flights, in order to avoid any misunderstandings or any kind of unintended (aircraft) collision with each other,” Mattis said.
“We are not coordinating our attacks there (in Syria) with them (the Russians). This is only contact to prevent incidents,” he added.
On April 7, General-Major Igor Konashenkov, official spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, announced that from April 8, the Ministry of Defense would suspend the operation of the communication “hotline” with the Pentagon envisaged by the memorandum on mutual understanding, and that the US military attaché had been given the relevant memorandum. He specified that the relevant memorandum was also sent to the Pentagon through the military diplomatic channels. Russia took this step after the US destroyers’ cruise missile strike on the Syrian Ash-Shayrat air base in the Homs province.
On April 10, Colonel John Thomas, spokesman for the US Central Command (CENTCOM) told reporters that the US and Russian militaries were continuing to maintain contact as needed in order to prevent incidents in Syrian airspace, despite the termination of the so-called hotline between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon. He did not provide any details regarding this cooperation, and he did not specify on which level this contact was taking place.
Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary to the Russian President, stated earlier that Russia is willing to renew the memorandum on collaboration in Syria, provided Washington’s unpredictable actions are not repeated.