During a press conference today, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, Alexey Pushkov, answering a question from Vestnik Kavkaza, said that a Russian ground operation in Syria is not expected, despite recent events, including the terrorist attack on the Russian plane in Egypt and the terrorist attacks in Paris.
"None of the parties want to start a ground operation in Syria due to the risk of involvement in a long-term military presence in the Middle East. We also have the experience of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, and the American experience of the presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, which clearly show that it is easier to make a decision on a ground operation than stop it," he explained.
According to him, now all international forces are operating effectively in order to resist the terrorist organization Islamic State. "Russia operates actively, but the other two parties acted symbolically and didn't prevent Islamic State from extending and maintaining its presence in Iraq. France is active, for obvious reasons, the United States is about to act actively," Alexey Pushkov said.
Earlier, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the country is not going to start a ground operation in Syria. "President Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will carry out only airstrikes with the help of its Air Forces component. The matter of a ground operation is not being discussed," Peskov said.
On Tuesday November 17th Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, during a report to President Vladimir Putin, said that the Russian Air Forces have increased the number of air strikes on objects of Islamic State in Syria. "The number of flights was doubled. This allows us to carry out more accurate airstrikes on positions of ISIS in Syria,'' RIA Novosti cites the head of the RF Defense Ministry.
Recall that on September 30th the Federation Council approved the proposal by President Vladimir Putin on the use of the Russian army abroad in accordance with international law. At the same time, Syrian President Bashar Assad turned to Russia with a request for military assistance. According to spokesman of the RF Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov, the country has sent more than 50 aircraft to the Middle East.
