Russia, US could be headed for collision in Syria

Andrey Sushentsov, program director at the Valdai Discussion Club, told Al-Monitor he believes “deconfliction” has probably been the only working collaborative theme of US-Russia relations in Syria.

“Russia’s highest officials have been calling it ‘the most reliable and trustworthy’ working channel. Therefore, I rule out that the incident [in Deir ez-Zor] was an intentional provocation meant to break the fragile trust. Russia seeks to avoid deterioration of its relations with the US in the theater of war where — besides Russia and America — Turkey, Iran, Israel, [Saudi Arabia] and Qatar have been active players,” Sushentsov said.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/02/russia-us-collision-syria-tension.html#ixzz58JGLvMhp