Russia has asked Britain to help contact the Syrian opposition

Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko appealed to the political directors of the British Foreign Office Simon Gass for assistance in establishing communication with representatives of the "Syrian Free Army" - the largest rebel movement, leading an armed struggle against the government forces of Bashar Assad and the group "Islamic State", said on Friday October 9, on the website of the Embassy in London.

The report said that "the Russian side would be grateful to the British partners for their assistance in making contacts" with the FSA to discuss "coordination between it and the Syrian armed forces in the fight against the IG." Russian authorities also want to discuss with the rebels the opportunity to "connect to the political process" in Syria.

The Russian ambassador also asked British counterpart data on "extremists infrastructure to improve the efficiency of air strikes."

Yakovenko and Gass exchanged "views on the current state of affairs." The Russian diplomat stressed "the need to consolidate international efforts" to deal effectively with the IG and "other terrorist groups." The two sides agreed that efforts to combat terrorism "must go hand in hand with co-operation to promote a political settlement of the Syrian crisis."

Russia is already more than a week to conduct military operations in Syria, directed against the country banned terrorist group "Islamic State". Shortly after the start of air strikes by NATO countries and representatives of the Syrian opposition said that most of the attacks falls on the rebel positions, which are also fighting against the IG. In Russia, in turn, called the rebels "join forces" with the army of Bashar al-Assad.

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