MOSCOW, April 19 (Itar-Tass) - RIA Novosti. Donald Trump said about the "tough battle between the US and Russian forces" in Syria a few weeks ago. He said this at a press conference in Florida after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We talked about this a short time ago, we had a very, very tough fight in Syria recently, a month ago, between our troops and Russian troops." And that's very sad, many people died in this fight, "the American leader said.

Trump also noted that he treats Russia "tough as no one".

The dead Russians

In mid-February, several US media reported that when the US-led coalition struck against pro-government forces in Syria, hundreds of Russians were killed.

It was alleged that the incident occurred in the area of ​​the conflict prevention line on the Euphrates River. In response, the head of the Pentagon, James Mattis said that he does not have such information.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Russians and citizens of the CIS countries were wounded and killed in Syria, but they noted that they are volunteers who went there with different purposes.

The department stressed that among the participants in the clash there were no Russian servicemen.

Those who suffered during the fighting helped return to Russia. "As far as we know, they are undergoing treatment in various medical institutions," the ministry said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called media reports on "hundreds of dead Russians" an example of "classical disinformation."

Head of the department Sergey Lavrov noted, in turn, that such information appears "by winding up fried news without presenting specific facts.

Zakazuha

According to Major-General, the chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Reserve Officers of the Armed Forces Vladimir Bogatyrev, attention to the topic of the dead shows that someone needs to "blow up the situation."

"Absolutely untested information is being voiced: there are no specific data, and absolutely different numbers are being sent - from hundreds to units." Therefore, most likely, this is "zakazuha", "the expert said on Sputnik radio.

According to him, a thorough check is needed in several directions at once. Bogatyrev did not rule out that there may be volunteers who participate in military conflicts abroad, having Russian citizenship. At the same time he reminded that there are foreigners in Syria who joined the terrorists. In addition, there is another important aspect - Russians are accepted by all natives of the CIS countries.

Link: https://ria.ru/syria/20180419/1518962929.html