WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States stands ready to continue the deconfliction discussions on Syria with its Russian counterparts, US State Department Deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
"We are certainly ready and prepared [to continue talks on Syria with Russia]," Toner told reporters.
The spokesperson added that Defense Department officials are ready to meet with Russians as soon as possible, but have not received a follow-up from Moscow yet.
"I think we’ve seen over the last couple of days the danger that exists on the ground of accidents, of accidental incursions. So we need to absolutely engage with Russia on deconflicting," Toner stressed.
NATO claimed that Russian fighter jets violated Turkish airspace on Saturday and Sunday.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that on Saturday, a Su-30 Flanker multirole fighter briefly violated Turkish airspace for a few seconds, explaining the incident by poor weather conditions.
US and Russian defense officials exchanged ideas during a video conference on deconfliction efforts on October 1, a day after Moscow launched its first airstrikes on ISIL positions in Syria. The talks are aimed at avoiding unintended encounters between the two nations’ militaries.
On September 30, Russia started conducting airstrikes against ISIL targets on the request of the Syrian government. A US-led anti-ISIL coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL in Syria and Iraq since September 2014.
