US-led strikes kill 100 RUSSIANS

US-BACKED strikes killed scores of Russian soldiers who were attempting to attack an American base in eastern Syria last week.

US Colonel Thomas F. Veale, a military spokesman, said: “Coalition officials were in regular communication with Russian counterparts before, during and after the thwarted, unprovoked attack.

“Russian officials assured coalition officials they would not engage coalition forces in the vicinity.”According to Colonel Veale, rounds were fired, “supported by artillery, tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems, and mortars”.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers an address in his office in Moscow this is a big scandal and a reason for an acute international crisis

Vladimir Frolov, former Russian diplomat

Russia’s military has denied involvement with the attack, however, a number of families have reported losing ones in the conflict.

And a statement from Russia's Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) has named at least four Russian citizens allegedly killed by US forces.

The report said: “We can only reliably speak of the deaths of five individuals, whose names are established, their death in Syria is confirmed by relatives.”

However, CIT added: “The numbers circulating the internet of between 200 and 600 who died to seem seriously overestimated.”

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Bashar al-Assad in Sochi among the

dead are Vladimir Loginov, 52, from Russia’s Kaliningrad, Muscovite Kirill Ananyev, Stanislav Matyevev and Igor Kosoturov of the Sverdlosk region and Ryazan resident Alexei Ladygin.

A Baltic site said of Mr Loginov: “He died heroically, defending our homeland. He was a caring father, a loving husband and a brave Cossack.

“Our sympathies go out to his widow and daughters.”

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Russia continues the air-strikes in Syria despite cessation-of-hostilities agreement Russian

jet shot down in Syria's Idlib province, pilot killed

Sun, February 4, 2018

Rebel fighters shot down the Russian warplane and captured the pilot, who was later killed after he fought the rebels

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People walk amidst the rubble of the Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet scattered on the ground

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The government in Damascus has lashed out at the US attack, calling it “barbaric aggression” and a “war crime”. 

According to one mercenary commander, the death toll, which is still rising, is greater than Russia’s total official losses since it entered the war in 2015. 

Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat, said the clash signaled the first armed conflict between the two nations since the Vietnam War. 

He said: “This is a big scandal and a reason for an acute international crisis. “