NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, said that Russia’s deployment of SA-15 and SA-22 ground-to-air missile systems as well as SU30-SM fighter jets were a "potential threat to NATO forces" but had no obvious use against IS, the Times newspaper reports.
"We see some very sophisticated air defenses going into those airfields. I have not seen IS flying any airplanes that require SA-15s or SA-22s," he said.
The military expert of Vestnik Kavkaza, expressed bewilderment at Breedlove's fear, because this weapon is usual for such operations. NATO is well aware of this, and it did not cause any problems from the officials of the alliance before the Syrian campaign. He suggested that this rather "nervous" statement by the Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe was an attempt "to try to remove Russia from the military actions against IS in Syria, because the efficiency of the Russian forces could pick out failures of the alliance in the fight against Islamic State."
