Putin informed Obama of plans to strike ISIL in Syria at meeting in New York – Lavrov

MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin informed U.S. President Barack Obama of plans to strike Islamic State targets in Syria during their recent meeting on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session in New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

“When we were ready, after the Federation Council’s decision, to start striking ISIL positions in response to the Syrian leadership’s request our American partners were warned, which happened during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New York and his conversation with U.S. President Obama,” Lavrov said at the State Duma on Wednesday.

“The U.S. president said in response that this is what they expected,” Lavrov said.

A proposal on sending a Russian delegation led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the U.S. to discuss the situation in Syria was also made on the sidelines of the General Assembly session, Lavrov said.

“We proposed sending a delegation of military experts to Moscow so as to agree here on a number of joint steps, after which we were ready to send a high-ranking delegation to Washington led by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and including military, special services and Foreign Ministry officials. This proposal was made when we were in New York, at the end of September,” he said.

In response to these proposals, the U.S. “displayed its willingness to coordinate measures to prevent unintended incidents in the airspace over the crisis region,” Lavrov said.