US will not support Russian unilateral action in Syria: WH

The US has rejected a Russian proposal to hold talks with its Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev here on developing joint efforts towards Syria, saying the Obama Administration will not support Moscow’s unilateral action in the war-torn country.

“Russia has their own agenda, and it’s an agenda right now that they’re pursuing on their own. So it’s not particularly surprising to me that President Putin would resort in some desperation to try to send the second highest-ranking official in the Russian government to the United States to try to convince us to join them,” White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday.

He was responding to questions about a Russian proposal in this regard.

Russian had proposed to send a military delegation, headed by Medvedev, to discuss coordinated action on the fight against terrorism in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Moscow a day earlier.

“I think the stated intentions, as described by (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin, was that this was a delegation that could facilitate military cooperation, coordination between the United States and Russia.

“To be blunt about <g data-gr-id="22">it we</g>’ve said that we’re not interested in doing that as long as Russia is not willing to make a constructive contribution to our counter-ISIL effort,” Earnest said.

The fact is, the request has fallen on deaf ears not just when it comes to the US, but to the other 65 members of <g data-gr-id="21">US-led</g> counter-ISIL coalition. “We do continue to see some reports that Iranian forces are ramping up their presence inside of Syria,” he said.