The forces of the international anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States of America were notified in advance of the passage of a military police convoy of the Armed Forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in eastern Syria. This was stated in the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“Despite this, in violation of the existing agreements, the US military attempted to block the Russian patrol. In response, the military police of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took the necessary measures to prevent the incident and further fulfill the task, "- this is how the department commented on the accusations by the United States of provoking an accident involving Russian and American armored vehicles by the Russian Armed Forces.

The department noted that the incident was discussed during telephone conversations by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Mark Milli.

"During the telephone conversation, the American side was provided with comprehensive explanations on this situation," the Defense Ministry added.

Earlier, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the incident, indicated that the situation had been discussed "through the chiefs of general staff."

  • Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Mark Milli
  • © RIA Novosti / Reuters

According to the member of the "Officers of Russia" expert council, military political scientist Alexander Perendzhiev, the United States uses "a very cunning fraudulent tactic that needs to be exposed."

“They want us to justify ourselves. They say, let the Russians justify themselves, and we will continue to violate the agreements, the Russians will be to blame, and we will be white and fluffy ... In those cases when they accuse the Russian side, they are the violators. As they say, on the thief and the hat is on fire. They twist international law as they want, ”he said on the air of Sputnik radio.

On the eve of the spokesman for the National Security Council John Ullot said that four American servicemen were lightly injured during an incident with the Russian military in eastern Syria.

“On August 25, at about 10 am (Syrian time), the anti-ISIS Coalition forces on a planned patrol met with a Russian military patrol near the city of Derik in northeastern Syria. During this meeting, a Russian car crashed into an American Coalition armored car, causing its crew to be injured, ”he said.

According to him, the Russian military carried out a "reckless maneuver", and the US troops left the area to de-escalate the situation.

"Such unsafe and unprofessional actions are in violation of the conflict prevention rules, which the United States and Russia committed to in December 2019," added Ullot.

In January, US Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey spoke about "minor skirmishes" between the Russian and American military in Syria, which did not develop into "something serious or threatening", as well as the incident with the "interception" of a certain Russian major general near the Syrian city of Manbij ...

The Russian Defense Ministry pointed out that the artificial escalation of tension by certain Pentagon officials "does not help stabilize the situation and only prevents the military from doing their job."

“We know where the American units are located, and the American side knows where the Russian military personnel are operating. Cases of uncoordinated actions at the points of contact are promptly resolved through the existing deconflicting channels, ”the ministry said in a statement.

The Russian military also stressed that the episode with the "interception" is a clear example of the effectiveness of the existing channels of interaction between the military of the two countries in Syria.

At the same time, we note that in June Russia withdrew from the UN notification mechanism about humanitarian objects and movements in Syria. As noted by the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, Moscow has repeatedly pointed out the shortcomings of this mechanism.

“One of the main problems was that the UN received information from unnamed sources. Our own investigations have repeatedly shown that some of the deconflicting sites were actually used as the headquarters of terrorists, so they could not be assigned humanitarian status, ”the diplomat said.

The Russian permanent representative suggested that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs should resolve the issue of de-conflict directly with Damascus.