Media: Russia will offer to conduct a joint operation with the U.S. in Raqqa
Russia wants to offer US to join their efforts in the operation to retake Raqqa which is considered a Syrian capital of the so-called Islamic State, as reported by the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
The United States has already stated its plans to block Raqqa even before Mosul is fully freed from ISIS. On October 25, the United States Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, said that the US together with the Alliance partners are preparing the operation to block Raqqa.
After the American presidential elections on November 8, Moscow is planning to approach Washington with an offer to join their efforts in Raqqa, writes Izvestia, citing an informed source in Russian foreign affairs circles.
“At the moment the priority for Russia is to clean up Aleppo. The operation is expected to be finished by the end of the year. Then Moscow intends to offer Washington to conduct a joint operation in Raqqa. We are talking about coordinating our actions in the air and exchange of the intelligence about the positions of the terrorists. However, the final decision about it will be taken after the presidential election in the United States when we find out who is going to lead the country,” said Izvestia's source.
Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chair of the Russia's upper house Committee on Security and Defense, also told Izvestia that Russia is ready to cooperate with the US in Raqqa, but, according to him, Moscow expects “sincerity in the fight against terrorism” from Washington.
On October 25, after the phone conversation with John Kerry, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, reportedly said that Kerry "expressed his interest in cooperation with us [Russia] in Syria".