Pentagon: The US and Russia have yet to reach an agreement on coordination in Syria
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook reported on Monday that the US and Russia have yet to finalize an agreement on coordination in Syria, Defense News reported.
“Contrary to recent claims, we have not finalized plans with Russia on potential coordinated efforts. Serious issues must first be resolved before we can implement the steps [Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov] discussed in Moscow last month,” Cook said.
Cook also noted that Russia’s recent actions in Syria make it difficult to consider any potential coordination.
Late last month, Kerry announced that he and Lavrov were working towards pursuing closer cooperation between the US and Russia in Syria.
Kerry hoped that Washington and Moscow would eventually be able to share intelligence to coordinate attacks against extremist groups in Syria. The Secretary of State also hoped to persuade the Kremlin to convince the Syrian government to focus its attacks on groups such as the so-called Islamic State and al-Nusra Front instead of moderate, US-backed rebel groups.
The State Department’s attempts to pursue coordination with Russia have been criticized by the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter.