MOSCOW, June 30 (Sputnik) — US-led coalition provocations foster the increased activity of terrorist organizations in Syria, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday.
"US-led coalition forces' provocation contribute to the expansion of terrorist organizations in Syria," Shoigu said via teleconference.
He added that Moscow had discontinued incident prevention memorandum contacts with Washington after the US military shot down a Syrian fighter jet on June 18.
On June 18, a US jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber near the city of Tabqa. The US-led coalition said the Syrian aircraft attacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions, adding that the coalition downed the Syrian jet as part of "collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."
Earlier in the week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik that the US strikes on the Syrian Armed Forces' aircraft and drone mean aiding terrorists.
"In the case of strikes [by US forces on the aircraft and drone of the Syrian Armed Forces], we are dealing with an open complicity with the terrorists operating on Syrian soil," Ryabkov said.
"These documents are planned to be released. It is necessary to mention that these documents are not written texts or some kind of contracts that could be published in a written form. This evidence is related to the aspects of battle actions. This means that the evidence show, in which locations [the United States] provided assistance to the IS. Weapons, supplies, logistical and medical assistance — all these point at this support," Hamid Reza Moghadam Far said.
The official added that Washington itself had also contributed to the creation of Daesh.
"The fact that the United States is behind the creation of the IS is more important. They cannot conceal this fact. But even today, when they state that 'we have made a mistake, creating this organization, and want to destroy it now,' they are still telling lies and it could be proved by many documents," the Iranian official said.
