Putin: Russia not supplying weapons to Syrian KurdsMay 15, 2017 - 16:28 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia considers it right to maintain working contacts with Kurdish units in Syria as they are fighting against terrorists but Moscow is not supplying weapons to Kurds, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, May 15, according to TASS. Putin thus commented on reports about Russian specialists’ contacts with Syrian Kurds. "As the Kurdish factor is a real one in the situation in Syria and Kurdish armed units are taking part in combat operations against the so-called Islamic State and are among the most combat efficient units, we consider it right to maintain working contacts with them, even at least for avoiding possible collisions and situations that could create threats to our servicemen," the Russian leader said. As Putin said, Russia is not supplying armaments to Syrian Kurds. "There is no secret here: unlike other countries, we do not announce arms supplies to Kurdish formations and they don’t have any special need for our supplies as they have other sources of receiving these weapons. We do not think that we need to abyhow intensify this work," Putin said. U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the limited arming of Syrian Kurds to help in the fight against IS, the Pentagon announced recently, in a move bound to antagonize Turkey. The equipment provided is set to include small arms, machine guns, construction equipment and armored vehicles. The supplies and weapons will be parceled out to be just enough to accomplish specific objectives related to Raqqa, an official added. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |