Moscow Rejects NATO Criticisms of Its Syria Military Campaign

The Russian government rejected NATO's criticisms against its air campaign in Syria on Tuesday, after the military bloc's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused Moscow of deliberately entering Turkish airspace.

Russia has maintained that a two of its fighter jets were allegedly forced by bad weather conditions to change route, entering Turkey without authorization by mistake. Moscow says that both NATO and Western media outlets are distorting the incident for their benefit.

“The impression is that the incident in Turkish airspace was used in order to include (it) … into the information campaign unleashed in the West, which perverts and distorts the purposes of the operation conducted by the Russian air forces in Syria,” Aleksandr Grushko, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also responded to criticism from the West, emphasizing on media reactions to Moscow's air campaign against armed groups in Syria.

“Blaming the Russian Air Force for the death of civilians, and even more sinisterly, the death of children, is pure propaganda...international media (have) launched a powerful anti-Russian campaign,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova during a press conference on Tuesday.

NATO further accused Moscow of having troops on the ground, without explaining what their role would be, or if they are actually fighting.

“I will not go into any specific numbers but I can confirm that we have seen the substantial build-up of Russian forces in Syria — air force, air defences but also ground troops in connection with the air base they have,” Stoltenberg told the press.

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin fiercely disagrees with the United States regarding the role of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Putin insists the only way to combat the Islamic State is by respecting Syria's sovereignty and consulting the country's leader because his troops are the only ones efficiently combating the extremists on the ground.

Moscow has repeatedly said it has no intentions of sending troops to Syria, it is working with the Syrian government, which does have ground troops, as Russia acknowledges you cannot use one method alone.

“You can't fight (the Islamic State group) from the air. You can only fight them by joint efforts with the Syrian army on the ground,” explained Zakharova during the press conference.

Despite this, several media outlets have espoused the words of opposition lawmaker Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the Russian parliament's defense committee, who said Monday that Russia could send unofficial ground reinforcements to help Syrian troops.

“It is likely that groups of Russian volunteers will appear in the ranks of the Syrian army as combat participants," Komoyedov told the Interfax-AVN news agency.

Despite the fact Komoyedov is a member of the opposition Communist Party, and not of the governing United Russia, international media have attributed the statement to Moscow officials.

Iran, Syria, Iraq and Russia launched a new cooperation scheme last week to counter the Islamic State group and other armed extremist forces currently operating in Syrian territory.

The Russian air campaign on Syria has been criticized by the West for targeting other armed groups operating in Syria, who are often allied with influential and al-Qaida affiliated al-Nusra Front, in addition to the Islamic State group.

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