Some partners have mush for brains, Putin says on US's Syria policies

Russian President Vladimir Putin has censured as mindless the United States policies vis-à-vis Syria and Washington's refusal to cooperate with Moscow on ending the crisis in the Arab country.

"I believe some of our partners simply have mush for brains," Putin said at an investment forum in the Russian capital, Moscow, on Tuesday, adding that Washington has declined to share intelligence on Syria.

“How is it possible to work together?” the Russian president said.

He added that his country has offered US authorities to have talks at a high military-political level on the resolution of the conflict in Syria.

“We proposed a meeting at the high military-political level in Moscow. I said that we can send a major delegation to Washington to primarily discuss the issues of Syrian settlement, but there is no response so far. We believe that it would be a serious authoritative delegation headed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev,” Putin said.

‘Contributing to the fight against terror’

Putin also said Russia is fighting terrorism in Syria, and not striving for leadership there.

“We are not in pursuit of any leadership in Syria. There is only one leader that can be in Syria, it is the Syrian people. We are striving for contribution to the fight against terrorism, something that is dangerous for both US and Russia, for European countries, as well as for the rest of the world, without any kind of exaggeration," the Russian president stated.

Putin said Russia, Europe, and the United States should join hands and encourage all parties involved in the crisis in Syria to seek out a solution.

“If we want to be effective and not just shoot and carry out missile airstrikes, but to achieve an actual political resolution, we need to encourage all forces inside the country to jointly work within the territory of Syria itself,” he said.

The Russian leader also expressed concern over weapons and munitions being airdropped by US forces to foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants in Syria, warning that the campaign would fail just like the program to train and equip the so-called moderate militants.

Since September 2014, the US and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against purported positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Russia began its own military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.

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