Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu granted an interview to the Kazakh news portal Tengrinews.kz in which he was apparently very generous to the U.S. The interview, which EIR reviewed via google translate and from the posting to the Defense Ministry website, was originally published on March 17, the same day that President Joe Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a killer.” [http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12349347@egNews]
“I will not hide the fact that today in Syria, at the operational and tactical level, we have very close contacts with our American colleagues,” Shoigu said, with regard to Russian cooperation with the U.S. military. “Maybe if this is a secret for someone, I will reveal a secret. We have contacted several times a day at the level of airspace control and conducting work in the air to combat terrorism.”
He went on to say that the first steps in U.S.-Russian strategic relations were quite promising, following “rapid progress” on extending the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (New START). “It is now clear that, after all, they have moved from unrealizable requirements and proposals to a completely normal and constructive dialogue,” he said. “I hope that, probably, in the future, those steps can be taken first in which not only the United States and Russia are interested, but also other countries. So, today they say: `Yes, we need to cooperate with Russia, but only in those areas where it is beneficial for us.’ Such is the negotiating platform today.”
