US military rubbishes Kremlin ‘propaganda’ claims America flew airstrikes over Syria with Russia
The US military has rubbished Russian reports it had flown its first combat mission with American led coalition forces over Syria.
The announcement by the Kremlin was dismissed by US Marine Major Adrian JT Rankine-Galloway on Monday, who said there was no co-ordination of airstrikes between the two countries.
In a statement he said: "The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria.
"DoD maintains a channel of communication with the Russian military focused solely on ensuring the safety of aircrews and de-confliction of Coalition and Russian operations in Syria."
He spoke out almost as soon as Russia made its claim, branding it propaganda.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer, while not commenting on the report, did suggest President Donald Trump was willing to work with Russia.
He said: "The President has been very clear he is going to work with any country that shares our interest in defeating ISIS. If there’s a way we can… whether it’s with Russia or whoever else, we’ll take it."
It was the Russian Defense Ministry which claimed the operation had occurred.
The announcement was three days after Trump was sworn in as President, and it could have been viewed as an indication in a change of relationship between the US and President Vladimir Putin.
Under the Obama administration, relations between the two countries were at a low ebb.
However Trump has been vocal about wanting to work with Russia to rebuild the relationship.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said contact between Putin and the new US President was being handled by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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His comments were contrary to reports on Monday and he stressed it was too early to talk about details of Russia and the US in fighting ISIS side by side.
However despite speaking of a more open relationship with Russia, Trump told T he wanted their nuclear weapons to be "reduced very substantially."
He said: "They have sanctions on Russia - let's see if we can make some good deals with Russia.
"For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that's part of it."