Russian Defense Ministry

The Russian military on Oct. 6 strongly warned the United States against striking the Syrian army, noting that its air defense weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.
The statement underlined high tensions between Moscow and Washington after the collapse of a U.S.-Russia-brokered Syria truce and the Syrian army's offensive on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.

BELGRADE - Moscow is considering plans to return to Cuba and Vietnam where it had military bases in the past, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said on Friday, according to RIA news agency.

"We are working on this," Pankov said, while declining to elaborate.

BELGRADE - Any missile or air strikes on the territory under control of the Syrian government will pose an obvious threat to the Russian military, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing on Thursday in comments on western media reports about possible strikes on Syrian troops, TASS reports.

U.S.-led coalition air strikes killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Sept. 17, endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated. 

The cessation of hostilities in Syria largely held on Sept. 16 despite minor clashes both in Aleppo and Damascus and a duel of words between Russia and the U.S., the two countries that support the silence of arms.

The Turkish and Russian top soldiers held extensive discussions in Ankara on a wide range of issues, including the ongoing turmoil in Syria, in the first top level military-to-military meeting since the two countries resolved a crisis

A Russian fighter jet flew within a little more than 3 meters (10 feet) of a U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft, in what American officials called an unsafe intercept over the Black Sea, the Pentagon said Sept. 7, although Moscow quickly insisted the encounter was within "international rules."

Moscow and Washington have traded mutual accusations over an incident with aircraft over the Black Sea.

The Pentagon late on Wednesday blamed the Russian Air Force for what it described as a "provocation", with a Su-27 fighter jet having intercepted a US Navy surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea, flying only 3 km from the aircraft.

Russia said on May 1 that talks were taking place to include Aleppo in a temporary lull in fighting declared by the Syrian army in some western parts of the country, a sign of intensified efforts to halt a surge of violence in its former commercial capital.

Russia rejected April 30 a new claim that one of its jets had intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the Baltic in an "unsafe" manner, and accused Washington of sending "spy-planes" into its airspace.

U.S. authorities said they were "very concerned" after the mid-air standoff April 29, the latest incident fuelling tension between the former Cold War foes.