Interfax: Joint command in fight against ISIL unrealistic, but efforts on the ground should be coordinated – Lavrov

MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) – At their meeting in New York, the Russian and U.S. presidents did not discuss a coalition to fight the Islamic State (ISIL) group in ‘the classical sense of the word’, any joint command is unrealistic, but activities on the ground and airstrikes require coordination, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

The Russian and U.S. leaders did not discuss such a coalition in ‘the classical sense of this word’, Lavrov said in an interview with the Russia Today television station.

The Russian minister also expressed his conviction that all those fighting against terrorist groups such as ISIL and others ought to coordinate their efforts. There should not be a joint command because it is unrealistic, and Russian President Vladimir Putin explained this to his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama when they met, he said.

But efforts on the ground and airstrikes should be coordinated because the coalition is fighting only with the help of airstrikes, while the Syrian and Iraqi armies, as well as Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq are combating ISIL and al-Nusra on the ground, he added.

[featured image is file photo]