The aircraft of the United States and Russia checked the system for preventing incidents in the sky of Syria

Fighters of the United States and Russia checked communication in the sky over the southern part of the central regions of Syria, reports Reuters. The purpose of the contact was to verify the effectiveness of flight safety protocols, which were previously agreed by representatives of the two countries.

Two fighters went about eight kilometers from each other, the radio contact lasted about three minutes. The Pentagon called not to exaggerate the meaning of this episode and emphasized that contact should not be considered joint exercises of the fighters of the two countries.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the head of the main operational department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov said that the Ministry of Defense and leaders of the Syrian opposition created coordination groups to coordinate actions against the Islamic State terrorists, Interfax reports . According to him, the Syrian opposition transferred the coordinates of 24 goals on IG positions. "Such close cooperation will allow us to combine the efforts of all government troops and other patriotic forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, previously in the opposition, and oppose a united front against a common enemy - international terrorism," the general said.

Contacts of the Russian defense department with a moderate opposition in Syria are useful for the political process, said Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. "The Foreign Ministry knows about these contacts, confirm their fruitful character," said the diplomat.

On October 20, the United States and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding regarding measures to avoid incidents in the Syrian airspace . The document includes specific security protocols for aircraft crews, which provide for constant compliance with professional flight discipline, the use of certain frequencies of communication, as well as the creation of a location line.

"The memorandum does not establish the zones of cooperation and does not provide for the exchange of intelligence information or data on goals in Syria. Discussions, the entry of which this memorandum was developed, does not mean cooperation between the United States with Russia or support its policy and actions in Syria," the Pentagon spokesman Peter Kuk emphasized.

Another representative of the American military department, Jeff Davis, emphasized that the principles of behavior in the air agreed with Russia are not part of a wider agreement of the two countries on actions in Syria. They are aimed exclusively at the prevention of clashes of American and Russian aircraft over Syria, where both countries strike air.

The Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Anatoly Antonov also noted that "the memorandum is purely military-technical character." At the same time, he called the signing of the document a "positive step." He noted that "the document has important practical significance", since it regulates the actions of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles in the airspace above Syria.