Not widely covered in a western media more interested in war than peace.
More headlines coming later.
Russian defense, Pentagon chiefs agree to restore military contacts, discuss Syria
RT,
18
September, 2015
Leaders
at the Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon have agreed to
restore military contacts and continue consultations, Russia’s
military officials said in a statement.
Russia’s
Minster of Defense Sergey Shoigu and his US counterpart Ashton Carter
talked by phone on Friday to discuss the situation in the
Middle East and the Syrian crisis, among other issues. They agreed to
restore contacts between the ministries.
"The
ministers noted the restoration of military-to-military contacts and
agreed to continue consultations,"
spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov,
said.
Russian military advisers work in Syria, longtime military cooperation ‘no secret’ - Moscowhttp://t.co/i43Sm606dDpic.twitter.com/1p0VFpMrHo
— RT (@RT_com) September 9, 2015
The
“detailed”
discussion that lasted over an hour revealed that Moscow's and
Washington's views “are
close or coincide”
on most of the issues considered, Konashenkov dded.
The
ministers also talked on the need to coordinate "bilateral
and multilateral efforts to combat global terrorism".
US State Dept. nervous about ‘press reports’ of Russian military in#Syriahttp://t.co/LXZlBKsPWOpic.twitter.com/3kwewBtF7C
— RT (@RT_com) September 7, 2015
It
was the first contact between the ministries since last August, as
the relations between Russia and the US remain soured by the conflict
in Ukraine.
Former
US diplomat Jim Jatras told RT that the recent agreement could be “a
huge breakthrough” both
for conflicts in Ukraine and in Syria. However, those who are opposed
to the countries’ cooperation in President Obama’s administration
won’t “happily
or gladly accept the lifeline that Moscow is offering,” because “for
a lot of these people Syria is a sideshow, kind of like Ukraine, that
the real enemy is Russia, even more than it is Damascus.”
“Our
so-called allies – Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Gulf states – that are
supposed to be a part of our frankly ridiculous coalition against
ISIS have their own agendas,” Jatras
told RT. “The
idea that there is an effective coalition against ISIS led by the
United States is as absurd a failure as our so-called moderate
terrorists within Syria.”
Jatras
added that the cooperation between Russia and the US could boost the
effectiveness of the campaign against Islamic State, help avoid
any “unintended
incidents” and “open
the door to US cooperation with Damascus government.”
“What
must happen is for Washington to finally admit that Assad is not
going anywhere. This fantasy that they have been entertaining for
four years that with just a little more push Assad will be gone,
Assad must go, nothing can happen till then – that’s got to
end,” he
said. “They’ve
got to come to the realization that the Syrian government will stay
in place, that there could be some political reconciliation with
genuine political elements within Syria.”
In
May, Russia's Ministry of Defense and NATO also restored a direct
telephone link. The cooperation was suspended last April due to the
situation in Ukraine as well, but after nearly a year the need “to
avoid misunderstandings between NATO and Russia” outweighed
the discord.
On
Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that President Barack
Obama hoped that military talks with Russia would "help
define some of the different options available to us as we consider
next steps in Syria."
"Our
focus remains on destroying ISIL [Islamic State, formerly known as
ISIS\ISIL] and also on a political settlement with respect to Syria,
which we believe cannot be achieved with the long-term presence of
[President Bashar] Assad," Kerry
said. "We’re
looking for ways in which to find a common ground."
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