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Moscow wants US to coordinate actions with Syrian army, Russian air group

The Russian top diplomat says the US-led coalition should fight not only against the Islamic State, but also against Jabhat al-Nusra

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russia would like the United States and the anti-terrorist coalition it leads to coordinate its actions in Syria with the government army and Russia’s aerospace group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday at an international conference of heads of secret and security services and law enforcement agencies.

The text of his statement was published on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

"We would like the United States and the coalition it leads to feel free to coordinate its operations with the Syrian army and the Russian aerospace group," he said. "Also, it is necessary to ensure the coalition should fight not only against the Islamic State, but also against Jabhat al-Nusra, which for some reason remained untouchable back under the Obama administration."

Lavrov said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative for creating a wide anti-terrorist front with the United Nations playing the central, coordinating role was still relevant.

"Its implementation requires observance of international law, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states in whose territory the struggle against terrorism is on," he added.

 Russia suggests imposing a full trade-economic embargo on the territories seized by Islamic State, he went on. 

"Russia has offered the Security Council to impose a comprehensive trade-economic embargo on any territories under the IS control on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter," said the test of Lavrov’s speech posted on the website of the Foreign Ministry.

"So far, our initiative sees not quite understandable resistance from Western colleagues," he added.

Moscow is confident that additional emergency moves are necessary, first of all from intelligence services, with an aim to liquidate all channels for financing terroristms, Lavrov stressed. "We suggest building up cooperation between the services that you represent to establish concrete individuals and legal entities involved in economic relations with Islamic State to stop their criminal activity," he said.

The diplomat said potentials of multilateral mechanisms should be used more fully for that, first of all those of counter-terrorism structures of the United Nations and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).