VLADIVOSTOK. Aug 15 (Interfax) - Russia has yet to find common ground with the United States in the process of sharing data concerning the moderate Syrian opposition, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"We say to our colleagues: tell us where the moderate opposition is based, that was our first question. And our first proposal: where our aviation should not strike, where the really moderate opposition is. They could not [tell]. Okay. Then tell us where strikes should be carried out, where you think ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra [both organizations banned in Russia] and those who have joined them definitely are. They could not say either. There are very many things that we have yet to decide with our U.S. colleagues," Shoigu said in an interview with the "Vesti at 8 p.m." program broadcast in the Russian Far East.
There have been proposals to consider even suicide bombers as the moderate opposition, he said.
"When they put him into an IFV [infantry fighting vehicle], seal the hatch, load 200 kilograms of explosives and he blows up. Who is he? Is this the moderate opposition that we are not letting out of the city, or blocking the city? Who are they? And everyone who stand behind them, saying no, they are fighters for a brighter future. I don't understand such warfare methods," the Russian defense minister said.