“I believe that the intelligence should be shared,” Wilson said. “Equally I believe and hope that Russia would not use that information to attack what we have hoped to be moderate islamists. It’s in our interest. It’s in interest of Russia and the United states to have stable positive functioning governments, particularly in Syria and Iraq.”
In December, head of the Russian General Staff’s operations department Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russia is prepared to share information with the US-led coalition against the IS on the location of militants in Syria and is expecting the same in return.
US Defense Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza then told Sputnik that the United States does not plan to cooperate with Russia in the fight against IS radicals in Syria, and would not cooperate with Russia in intelligence sharing on the terrorist targets in Syria until Moscow changed its strategy of cooperation with the official Damascus.
A US-led international coalition has been launching airstrikes against IS targets in Syria since September 2014, without the permission of Damascus or the United Nations. Russia started carrying out precision airstrikes against IS in Syria in September 2015, at the request of President Bashar Assad.
IS is a terrorist group, outlawed in many countries, including Russia.
