MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/. The US-led coalition seems to imitate the struggle against the Islamic State terrorist organization, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told TASS on Thursday.
"It will suffice to say that US pilots that have flown in the sky over Syria and Iraq for a whole year ‘have not noticed’ convoys of fuel tanker trucks with smuggled oil that feeds the terrorists’ forces," the Russian diplomat said.
"Generally, an impression is being created that the US-led coalition is hostage to its politicized approach and is rather imitating the struggle against the IS," he said.
"The actions of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition in Syria are in principle illegitimate - the sovereignty of that state is openly violated, as neither the UN Security Council, nor official Damascus gave their permission to bombings of Syria to coalition forces," Syromolotov said.
Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, which are banned in Russia, on September 30, 2015, on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Russian aircraft have delivered over 4,000 missile and bombing strikes since September 30.
According to UN statistics, fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions since its start in 2011.