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Russian Foreign Ministry praises Defense Ministry’s contacts with Syrian opposition

These contacts of the Russian military department with representatives of moderate Syrian opposition "look extremely timely and useful," says Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow TASS/Gennady Khameliyanin
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow
© TASS/Gennady Khameliyanin

MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Contacts between Russia’s Defense Ministry and moderate Syrian opposition are useful for the political process, special representative of the Russian president for the Middle East and African countries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday.

"The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation knows about these contacts, we confirm their fruitful nature," the high-ranking diplomat said.

"These contacts of the Russian military department with representatives of moderate Syrian opposition look extremely timely and useful to us, both from the viewpoint of fight against terrorists and for promotion of the political process," Bogdanov said.

Russia started a military operation against the Islamic State terrorist group in the Syrian territory at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on September 30. The air group in Syria includes more than 50 warplanes, including Su-34 and Su-24M bombers; Su-25 assault aircraft; Su-30SM fighter jets as well as Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters.

The Russian pilots have made 1,631 combat sorties and delivered air strikes at 2,084 terrorist facilities since the military operation started, Kartapolov told journalists on November 3 confirming that Russia had no intention to participate in land operations in Syria.