Russia’s Defense Ministry commented on the statement made by France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian that Russia has misappropriated the victory over ISIS.
"The defeat of ISIS in Syria is first of all result of actions by the Syrian leadership and governmental forces. With support of the Russian Aerospace Force, the Syrian armed forces liberated from ISIS terrorists hundreds of settlements and returned under control of the legitimate leadership practically the entire territory of the country," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry noted that over that time, the international coalition focused on counter-acting the Syrian governmental forces, including direct air strikes on their positions in Deir ez-Zor. "Over three year of existence, the "coalition" only recently succeeded for the first time in fighting ISIS in Syria - when it delivered mass bombing of Raqqa and its civilians," TASS cited the Defense Ministry as saying.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Russia had misappropriated the victory over the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria. In an interview with BFMTV he said forces of the international coalition had pushed the terrorists away, and the Russian military came to assist the forces of Syria’s President Bashar Assad and in the end liberated Deir ez-Zor with a certain delay.
