‘Restoring peace’: Russian troops remain in Syria so far

Russian troops will not be pulled out from Syria in the nearest time, Russia’s Ministry of Defense says.

“The Russian military group will focus on helping the Syrian people in restoring peace and ensuring compliance with the agreements reached by the parties,” Sergei Rudsky, a representative of the Russian General Staff, said.

Interestingly, yesterday Vladimir Putin was informed of ‘the complete victory’ over the Islamic State in Syria.

It should be recalled that Chief of Russia’s General Staff, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, said on December, 6 that Syria was fully liberated from terrorists, all units of the Islamic State terrorist group had been destroyed.

According to him, Syrian units defeated IS groups in the Deir ez-Zor province on Wednesday.

During November’s meeting with Bashar al-Assad, Putin announced the end of the Russian military operation in the near future. At the same time, he admitted that there was a ‘long way to go before the sweep victory over terrorism’. A day later, the Russian leader stated that 98% of the Syrian territory was under control of the governmental troops.

On November 30, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that preparations for the pullout of Russian military group from Syria started.

However, on December 7, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that only Russia’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Vladimir Putin can make a decision on ending the Russian air task force’s operation in Syria.

A number of experts suggested Putin would order to withdraw Russian forces from Syria before the launch of the election campaign. On December 6, he declared his readiness to run for president again.

belsat.eu

News