Kremlin Did Not Ask Parliament to Allow Russian Airstrikes in Syria

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm on Thursday media reports claiming that the Kremlin had asked the Russian parliament to allow using the country's air force in Syria.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier today, Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the matter saying that the Kremlin had drafted a request to the parliament's upper house to back the deployment of 2,000 air force personnel to the war-torn country to fight extremists.

"I have no information on this. I haven’t seen any documents concerning this issue. I have no idea where this information comes from," Peskov told journalists.

Asked whether Russia planned to be involved militarily in the fight against the Islamic State, the spokesman replied, "There has been a lot of media speculation, most of it is not true. It would not be wise to comment on every allegation."

Putin has not requested permission from the country’s upper house of parliament to use military forces in Syria, the chair of the Federation Council’s Committee on Defense and Security said Thursday.

“There has been no request sent to the Federation Council and as far as I know one isn’t being prepared,” Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

Ozerov said the Federal Council had recently amended the Russian constitution to streamline anti-terror procedures. In an emergency situation, the president can now send troops abroad without parliamentary approval.

"Anti-ISIL operations theoretically fall under this category because it is a clear terrorist threat," Ozerov asserted.

On Monday, unnamed US officials said four Su-30 fighter jets had headed to Syria's Latakia airfield on Friday, with an additional 12 Su-25 and 12 Su-24 attack aircraft joining them over the weekend..

Washington accused Moscow of assembling a strike force at a Syrian government stronghold to assist embattled President Bashar Assad in his war against various extremist groups.