Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a “complete victory” against ISIS terrorists in Syria, saying the militants had been totally driven from both sides of the Euphrates River.
Putin said the military operation was now finished, and that the focus would switch to a political process that would eventually involve presidential and parliamentary elections.
Russia says it is ready to start talking with the U.S. about helping to destroy what remains of ISIS in western Iraq.
Russia’s Defense Ministry is ready to hold talks with #US counterparts on assisting them to destroy fighters of the ISIS terrorist group in #Iraq🇮🇶s western regions
➡️ https://t.co/4xPzLlSqUv Follow @MoD_Russia🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/NsOXwsL68r— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) December 6, 2017
Anti War reports:. Russia has advocated substantial political reform within Syria, though with many rebels expecting to be installed outright, they generally oppose any “reform” that stops short of that, or that involves elections which current officials may participate in.
Not that Russia’s troops are going anywhere. The Syrian war is still ongoing further to the west, around the Idlib Province. Russian defense officials are also suggesting they are interested in getting involved in the ISIS war in neighboring Iraq.
With the US estimated 3,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, Russian First Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Valery Gerasimov is calling for dialogue with the US and joint operations within Iraq to destroy what’s left of ISIS and prevent them returning to Syria.
This is extremely unlikely to happen as a joint operation, with the US extremely averse to any serious cooperation with Russia, and having previously warned Iraq against letting Russia get too involved in the fighting in their country.