Russians have attacked the Islamic State in Syria “only on the margins,” said National Security Advisor Susan Rice on CNN on Sunday.
Rice said that while the Russians claim to have a shared interest with the U.S. in defeating the Islamic State, she cautioned that it is a “secondary” interest and that they don’t discriminate between the Islamic State and the U.S.-backed “moderate” forces opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“Their business is quite clear,” Rice said. “It’s to prop up Assad and and it’s to wipe out the opposition, most of which are moderate opposition, not extremist opposition.”
