All news

Russian Defense Ministry refutes reports on death of four military servicemen in Syria

All representatives of the Russian Armed Forces currently deployed in Syria are well and alive and fulfilling their duties, the ministry stressed

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry refuted earlier media reports that four military servicemen from Russia were allegedly killed in the northwest of Syria, a statement from the ministry announced on Thursday.

According to the ministry, a number of mass media outlets reported earlier that four Russian military servicemen were allegedly killed in the Syrian northwestern province of Hama as militants shelled the area.

"Not a single Russian military serviceman was killed recently on the territory of Syria," the Russian Defense Ministry said in the statement. "All representatives of the Russian Armed Forces currently deployed in Syria are well and alive and fulfilling their duties."

"Recent media reports [on four casualties] are another set of fake news," the statement reads. "Unfortunately, some Russian media outlets are reporting unreliable information, which has been circulated on purpose by militants from terrorist organizations via social networks."

The chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center for the Opposing Sides in Syria, Major General Viktor Kupchishin, announced on Wednesday that since early April militants attempted 12 attempts to attack Russia’s Hmeymim airbase and positions of the Syrian Army in the Latakia Governorate using drones and multiple-launch rocket systems, but all attacks were repelled.