MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - The Russian forces deployed in Syria may switch from tracking aerial targets belonging to the international coalition led by the United States to the west of the Euphrates River in Syria to destroying them if they threaten Russian pilots' safety, Russian Federation Council defense and security committee head Viktor Ozerov said.
"I call your attention to the word 'tracking' rather than 'destroying' targets. We won't allow anyone to treat our pilots the same way they treated a Syrian plane. We will be tracking these targets, and if only there is a threat to the lives and health of our servicemen or [the threat] that our aircraft may be lost, we certainly might switch from their tracking to their destruction," Ozerov told Interfax on Monday.
"But we believe we won't have to resort to this," Ozerov added in commenting on the Russian Defense Ministry statement that Russian air defense crews would start tracking any aerial objects belonging to the Western coalition, including planes and drones, to the west of the Euphrates River in Syria.
The Russian Defense Ministry demanded that the U.S. carefully investigate the downing of a Syrian aircraft and develop measures to prevent such incidents in the future, Ozerov said. "All this should make sure that such things do not happen not only to our but also to Syrian planes," he said.
Ozerov also said he was sure that, after Russian military had suspended interaction with the Pentagon under a bilateral memorandum on Syria, there would be no incidents between Russian and U.S. forces in Syrian airspace.
"We've been there for nearly two years. This threat [aerial incidents] has always existed in principle, but our and U.S. military have not allowed them to happen. Military people always understand each other better than politicians, and, unfortunately, sometimes they are hostages of political decisions, something that the American servicemen feel now. But there has always been and I believe there will always be mutual understanding between the military. It's precisely what prevented such military incidents when the memorandum wasn't in effect. I am sure there'll be none in the future," he said.