October 15, 2015•Update: October 16, 2015
WASHINGTON
The U.S. will continue to fight Daesh in Syria despite Russia's recent actions there, the head of American defense said Wednesday.
Ash Carter described Russia's behavior in the region as "unprofessional," adding that a strong strategic approach was taken by the NATO allies in response.
"We will take all necessary steps to deter Russia’s malign and destabilizing influence, coercion and aggression," he said during a speech at an annual meeting of the Army.
The White House later admitted that it rejected an offer to receive a Russian delegation lead by Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev.
"We've said that we're not interested in doing that as long as Russia is not willing to make a constructive contribution to our counter-ISIL effort," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"We would welcome a constructive Russian contribution that's integrated with the international effort against ISIL that's currently underway, but Russia has a different plan."
Earnest said Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to send his prime minister to the U.S. in order to get along with the U.S. while conducting unilateral actions inside of Syria.
Putin said Tuesday that Russia offered the U.S. to negotiate a settlement for Syria at a high military-political level.
Russia began air operations in Syria on Sept. 30. The Kremlin claims the airstrikes are aimed at supporting the forces of Russia’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad, against Daesh but NATO has accused Russia of targeting groups opposed to Assad.
Russian aircrafts violated Turkish airspace ion Oct. 3 and 4, despite Ankara’s clear, timely and repeated warnings.
Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952.
