U.S. European Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 8, 2018, in Washington D.C. According to a report on Thursday, April 19, Scaparrotti met with Russia’s chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, in Baku Azerbaijan. CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES
On April 19, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff and the NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe held a rare face-to-face meeting to try to ease the tensions between the two sides.
General Curtis Scaparrotti and General Valery Gerasimov met for the first time since 2013. The top generals met less than a week after the US, the UK and France carried out a massive missile strike on Syria. According to some experts, the relations between the sides are complicated as they had never been before after the collapse of the USSR.
Over the past few years, NATO [mostly the US] has deployed four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states under a pretext of preventing a possible Russian intervention. The US military has also sent a Patriot missile defense battery to Lithuania for drills. Both sides accuse the other of risky deployments in the Baltic states and eastern Europe.
In separate statements, NATO and the Russian Defense Ministry said their top commanders had discussed military exercises and troop movements.
NATO said the Baku meeting “focused on issues related to military posture and exercises” and ways to avoid actions that could lead to war.
“General Scaparrotti and General Gerasimov agreed to continue using the military lines of communication in the future,” NATO underlined.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the pair also talked about the conflict in Syria, where the US and Russia back opposing sides. Moscow supports the internationally-recognized government of President Bashar al-Assad. Washington initially intervented the conflict providing support to radical Islamist militant groups, but then focused its efforts on backing Kurdish militias with strong separatist intensions.
General Gerasimov also met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev while Generak’s visit to Baku.
“Ilham Aliyev and Valery Gerasimov exchanged opinions on military-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia and on prospects of further cooperation,” a statement from the Azerbaijani presidency said.
Aliyev voiced hope that this meeting would strengthen the international security, according to the Azerbaijani newspaper Apa.
Great news Russia who calls the shots for the legacy Syrian government and Western military leaders are working out an agreement for how to divvy up the war spoils… who gets what chunk of Syria. The sooner they agree the sooner this endless killing will slow down.
Well you seem to fail to understand hate to burst your bubble but no spoils to divvy up as Russia politely informed them there will be no Saudi or US participation after there departure. Just some new surprises coming so don’t expect you to know much intelligence is not the US or the West’s strong suit.
Sorry, not following your post. “Russia politely informed them there will be no Saudi or US participation after their departure.” Who is departing Russia or US? Where are the Saudis in Syria, did not know they had troops/equipment there. How much territory do they hold? Makes sense since all the vultures want a piece of Syria’s dead carcass. Have been wondering if Egypt has moved any troops into Syria. Makes even more sense for Jordan and Iraq to each claim a small chunk along their border. Just like Turkey they will claim they are fighting terrorists.. ISIS? Then promise to give the territory back when Syria has a stable government. Naturally between Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Russia and Iran you can pretty much guarantee that stable government will never happen.
You wonder a lot. Just a collection of opinions.
Hopefully we can all agree that Russians and Western Military Leaders talking is a good thing since it may end this war and killing sooner. This is Obama’s war, he started it. Obama and Assad deserve the blame. Trump and 90% of US citizens do not care about Syria and believe Syria is a problem for Syrians to solve. Assad could end this war in 1 minute.
US doesn’t really hold any it’s all held by SDF and Arabs they just build illegal bases like the rest of NATO. Well Saudis alon with Erik Prince will be establishing and Arab force in Northern Syria seems you don’t follow what goes on in US military as Sauds are needed to pay 4 billion US, the Sauds are to busy in Yemen fighting a US war.With regards to Iraq claiming any part will never happen s they need real allies in terror not the clowns from NATO, Jordan is worried that Syria may take from them and do it with very little bloodshed they never really wanted any part of the CIA/Saud plan. You seem more out of touch on real middle east politics. Turkey has been deemed to be there illegally with their bogus claim of fighting terrorists, hell them like the US/Sauds supply them and ISIS is only protected when they are near the US.Why do you believe Syria is dead the only thing that will be a dead carcass will be the US and don’t get melodramatic in the assumption the West will fall without them, won’t happen.
Well let’s look at your claim of instability from Turkey as that is the only one that is a possibility rest are already allied or aligned with Syrian Government. Turkey will soon face a civil war of it’s own making not everyone wants AKP to remain in power even the west wants Erdogan out opposition will gain next election US will interfere of course. US military has fatigue so you will definitely see a withdrawal as with the rest of NATO forces in the region. If you wonder about Egypt best not as Israel is funneling more ISIS insurgents into the Egypt peninsula it’s easy there Salaists are in the area.
You may see Chinese there as they would love to neutralize as many Uighurs as possible before they return also more likely see a larger investment into Syria.
1. Agree, US doesn’t hold any territory it’s all held by SDF and Arabs. US just builds bases there. 2. Agree Saudis and Blackwater will continue to back SDF after US boots on the ground ‘leave’. I believe Saudis will get Arab League involved in some symbolic way and US Special Ops will stay under the cover of Blackwater. Most importantly US air power will stay. 3. Disagree on Iraq and Jordan involvement. Do we agree Jordan will continue to be staging area for US involvement. 4. Do we agree Israel has desire for another small chunk of Syria and Lebanon? 5. Agree Turkey is there illegally and Turkey is unstable. 6. Do you agree Erodogan needs expansion through conquest to stay in power. I expect Turkey to take as much of Syria as they can get and never give it back. 7. Agree US will interfere in Turkey election and wants Erodogan out. Does not matter since Erodogan has fixed elections. Only a fool would call early elections in Turkey if they did not already know the outcome, Erodogan is not a fool. 8. Agree China wants involvement in Syria war. Tremendous benefit for China. I believe Russia would be foolish to bring China into Syria. US wants China in to create friction between Russia and China. More importantly will give US chance to test their weapons against Chinese.