The United States on Wednesday ruled out military cooperation with Russia in Syria’s war, accusing Moscow of pursuing a “tragically flawed” strategy that would force it to limit military talks to basic pilot safety.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter’s critique amounted to a rebuff of Russia, which had sought greater coordination as Moscow escalates its military role in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“We are not prepared to cooperate in a strategy, which as we explained, is flawed - tragically flawed - on the Russians’ part,” Carter told a news conference during a trip to Rome.
Russia launched its air campaign last month saying it would also target Islamic State. But its planes have also hit other rebel groups opposed to Assad, Moscow’s longtime ally, including groups backed by Washington.
“Despite what the Russians say, we have not agreed to cooperate with Russia so long as they continue to pursue a mistaken strategy and hit these targets,” Carter said.
The US has put forward various proposals, including simple safety protocols, such as maintaining a safe distance between US and Russian aircraft and using common radio frequencies for distress calls, officials say, adding they would be similar to regulations found in civil aviation.
In a reminder of the risks, US-led coalition aircraft bombing Islamist militants in Syria were re-routed at least once in the last six days to avoid a close encounter with Russian planes, the Pentagon said.
Russia’s deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, was quoted by the Tass news agency on Tuesday as saying the Russian military agreed in principle with the proposals made by the US on coordinating military flights.
He said the two countries would hold a second joint video conference on the subject in the “coming days.”
But US defence official said Washington had not yet heard back formally from Russia on the proposals themselves, something that would be normally done in writing before any meeting.
