Russia confirms death of five Russian citizens in US coalition airstrike in Syria
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that according to provisional information, five Russians were killed in the US-led coalition’s airstrike against Syrian government forces. The Russians in question were not soldiers.
“According to provisional information, as a result of the armed encounter which took place, the reasons for which are currently being determined, five men who were presumably Russian citizens may have died. There are also wounded, but this all needs to be verified, their citizenship in particular… I want to emphasize once more that they were not Russian soldiers,” Zakharova said at a press conference in Moscow.
Zakharova called the material on the death of “many Russian soldiers” in the airstrike “classic disinformation”.
The media reported earlier on the death of five Russian citizens who were not Russian soldiers. Their death was presumably connected to the airstrike in Deir al-Zor.
On February 8, the central command of the US Armed Forces reported that the US coalition had carried out retaliatory airstrikes in response to the Syrian government forces’ attack on the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces. More than 100 people were killed in the airstrike, the US media reported, citing a coalition representative.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis announced that there were no Russian Defense Ministry forces in the region on February 7. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed this on February 8, stating that the Syrian militia who came under fire had not coordinated their operation with the Russian military.