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Fight against Islamic state

Russia cancels strikes on IS militants when they hide among population — General Staff

Russian army’s General Staff representative also said that Russia had proposed to the partners to exchange the IS facilities’ coordinates, however, there has been no response to the proposal

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Russia agreed with partners in advance on cruise missile strikes on IS militants in Syria

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Russia has more than once cancelled the planned strikes on the Islamic State (IS) militants as they were hiding among the civilian population, chief of the main operations directorate of Russian army’s General Staff Andrei Kartapolov said on Wednesday.

"We’ve more than once had to cancel the planned strikes on the militants only because the terrorists, to all appearances, getting information about the planes’ taking off were leaving their bases and camps. They were hiding, as a rule, in populated localities and near religious sites," Kartapolov told a briefing.

He said that Russia was not targeting facilities in populated localities.

Kartapolov also said that Russia had proposed to the partners to exchange the IS facilities’ coordinates, however, there has been no response to the proposal.

"It means that either our partners have no such coordinates or they for some reason don’t want us to make strikes on the IS facilities. The reason for this remains unclear to us so far," Kartapolov said.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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