Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is willing to restore the agreement by which U.S. and Russian forces communicate during operations in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, provided the Americans accept certain conditions regarding the fight against ISIS.
“We have also talked about the state of affairs and the direction of our airspace forces, as well as the coalition headed by the U.S.,” Lavrov said through an interpreter in Moscow after meeting with Putin and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “And the context of the memorandum we have on preventing incidents, as well as ensuring the safety of air traffic over Syria. As you know, we have suspended the memorandum. But today, the Russian president has reaffirmed that we’re willing to put it back into force on condition that the primary force is going to be reaffirmed of both the American coalition and the Russian air space orders — that is the objective of fighting the associated terrorist organizations.
“We assume, as well, that the publicly stated position of both Russia and the U.S., that there is no intention to interfere with the domestic affairs of Syria, and we do hope that Iraq’s example, as well as that of Libya and other countries, is admonition of creating similar attempts anywhere else,” Lavrov said.
As recently as Wednesday, the U.S. was refusing to comment as to whether the hotline was working. The communications channel was set up in 2015 to avoid friendly fire incidents and collisions in the sky over Syria. Last Friday, after President Trump ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield that was a launching point for last week’s chemical attack, Russia said it was ceasing communications with the U.S.
As of Friday morning, the Pentagon said the two forces were still talking, then over the weekend opted to not comment on the status of communications.
