Kremlin: Russia reserves the right to use all available means to fight terrorists in Aleppo
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in the event of an emergency, Russia reserves the right to use all available means to counter “terrorist provocations” in Aleppo, TASS reported.
On Friday, General Sergey Rudskoi, the chief of the main department for operations at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, requested that the Russian military be allowed to resume its operations in Aleppo.
"Since civilians continue dying and the militants have resumed active combat actions against government forces, we've asked the Supreme Commander [Vladimir Putin] to authorize a resumption of airstrikes against illegal paramilitary formations in eastern Aleppo," he said.
Commenting on the Russian General Staff’s request, Peskov said, "Considering that terrorists have announced the planned intensification of combat actions and also that they have really switched partially to active offensive operations, the Russian president proceeds from the fact that in the event of an emergency the Russian side reserves the right to use all available forces and resources to counter the terrorist groupings’ provocative actions and provide due support to the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
Rudskoi said that Russian warplanes have not been active in a ten-kilometer radius around Aleppo for ten days.
"All flights by Russian and Syrian warplanes inside the ten-kilometer zone around the city have remained paused for a tenth day running, although the situation around Aleppo remains complicated," he said.