MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The involvement of Russia’s strategic bombers in strikes against terrorist targets in Syria shows that Russia’s Armed Forces have a really vast potential to use different types of armaments for coping with the identified tasks, the head of the Strategic Studies Centre, Ivan Konovalov, has said.
"We have demonstrated the way our frontline aircraft and Navy can operate. Now we’ve demonstrated that our long-range aviation is capable of participating in this type of operations. We have some other opportunities Russia has not put to use for now," Konovalov told TASS.
"It was a major show of strength and a wide range of capabilities the Russian Armed Forces possess for the terrorists and the international community to see," Konovalov said.
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He emphasized the political importance of the latest strikes, because they were dealt against targets of the Islamic State, prohibited in Russia as terrorist, in the wake of a report to the president the A321 liner had been lost over Egypt due to a terrorist attack and also as a gesture of support for France’s air strikes against Raqqah.
"This is symbolic. It indicates that Russia and the Western coalition have begun a joint operation in Syria," he said.