At
a Pentagon briefing, Peter Cook, the department’s press secretary, said
the agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, established safety
protocols requiring the Russians and the United States-led
international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria
to maintain professional airmanship at all times, use specific
communication frequencies and establish a communication line on the
ground.
Anatoly
I. Antonov, the Russian deputy defense minister, said in a Defense
Ministry statement, “The memorandum contains a set of rules and
restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between the Russian and U.S.
aviation.” He did not go into details, but said it had “important
practical significance.”
There
have been several close calls. On two occasions, Russian aircraft flew
within 1,500 feet and 500 feet of American warplanes, although not in a
threatening manner. Such incidents underscore the need for such an
agreement, Mr. Cook said.
“The
Russians need to abide by these flight safety protocols that they’ve
now agreed to, because we don’t want miscalculation and
misunderstanding,” he said.
The
protocols call for aircraft to maintain a “safe distance” from one
another, Mr. Cook said, refusing to elaborate on what that distance is
but saying coalition aircrews know how close is too close. “There’s no
need for them to have an encounter if everyone’s abiding by these
rules,” he said.
The
text of the memo was not released. Mr. Cook said the Russians had
requested that it not be shared. He declined to elaborate on the ground
communication line, including where exactly it would be located, but
described it as a backup resource to “have real-time conversations” in
case something went wrong with the air communications.
Mr.
Antonov suggested that more concrete steps needed to be worked out,
including round-the-clock communications channels that would be
established between the two relevant military commands and cooperation
on issues like joint assistance in “critical situations.”
Russia’s
Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, told reporters
that an agreement was important because the number of aircraft aloft in
recent days had increased noticeably, with as many as 30 combat aircraft
sharing the sky over the same area simultaneously.
“There
are military transport planes, combat aircraft and drones of various
size, including attack drones,” General Konashenkov was quoted as saying
by the Tass news agency.
At
the Pentagon, Mr. Cook emphasized that the agreement did not establish
the sharing of intelligence or target information and that it did not
“constitute U.S. cooperation or support for Russia’s policy or actions
in Syria.”
“We
continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is
counterproductive and their support for the Assad regime will only make
Syria’s civil war worse,” said Mr. Cook, referring to the Syrian
president, Bashar al-Assad.
The
statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry expressed disappointment that
the agreement was limited to technical military matters. Moscow had
proposed a number of specific measures to deepen Russian-American
military cooperation to counter the threat from international terrorism,
the statement said.
Speaking
to senior law enforcement commanders on Tuesday, President Vladimir V.
Putin reiterated that Russia had deployed its military in Syria to
prevent the threat from the Islamic State from spreading beyond the
Middle East.
“By
creating a stronghold in Syria and a number of other Middle Eastern
states, the terrorists have been making plans to expand their activities
and destabilize entire regions,” Mr. Putin said.
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