MOSCOW, OCTOBER 28: Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the United States for failing to fulfil its commitment to the Syrian settlement, saying that Moscow is ready to work with the new US president to improve bilateral ties.
“It is very difficult for us to communicate with the current US administration as it implements no agreements, including on Syria,” Xinhua news agency quoted Putin as saying on Thursday.
“But we are ready to talk with a new president in search of solutions to any complicated issues,” he added.
Russia has repeatedly shown dissatisfaction for the collapse of the Russia-US-brokered ceasefire agreement, which it blames on US for failing to separate “moderate” oppositions from terrorist groups in Syria.
In response to his alleged role in the US presidential campaign, Putin said Moscow is “somewhat indifferent” to who will win the election, but it welcomes any intentions to normalise bilateral ties.
He also dismissed reports that US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is Kremlin’s favourite, calling this “complete nonsense”.
Relations between the two countries have run cold since the Ukraine crisis in early 2014, when Washington slapped a bunch of sanctions against Moscow for its role in the conflicts in eastern Ukraine and its takeover of the Crimea peninsula.
Joint efforts from the two sides to promote a political settlement of the crisis in Syria failed, with each side accusing the other of violating the hard-earned truce deal in September.
15 killed in missile attack in Syria
Damascus: At least 15 persons were killed and nearly a hundred injured on Friday by missiles launched into Syria’s western Aleppo — an area controlled by government troops, a human rights monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) said that rockets slammed into the districts of Al-Hamdaniya, Al-Meridian, Al-Furqan, Al-Azima, Al-Yamilia, Al-Mashriqa and Al-Fid, Efe news reported.
The firing of missiles on Friday coincides with an offensive by Islamic and rebel groups against southwestern areas of Aleppo.
The attack began with the explosion of three car bombs in the Dahiyat al-Assad area dominated by regime forces.
One vehicle was driven by a French suicide bomber of African origin and belonging to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.
The explosions were followed by clashes between the Syrian army and allied militias, including the former al-Nusra Front and other groups in Al-Rashidin and Project 1070 districts, as well as other parts of southwestern and western Aleppo.
In parallel, the regime has fired artillery targeting the neighbourhoods of Tariq al-Bab, Al-Sokhour and Masaken Hanano, east of Aleppo, besieged by the army and held by opposition forces.
