The Pentagon announced Tuesday the U.S. and Russia had officially signed an agreement to minimize the risk of incidents as both countries conduct airstrikes in Syria.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook confirmed that the agreement was signed Tuesday but said the Kremlin insisted the text of the agreement remain secret.
The “memorandum” lays out safety protocols, specifies which frequencies both militaries would use to communicate, sets up a hotline on the ground and establishes a working group to talk about further issues, but does not lay out zones of cooperation or establish protocols for sharing target information, Mr. Cook said.
In a press release, the Russian Defense Ministry called the agreement, known as “The Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the Defense Ministries of Russia and the United States on preventing incidents and providing for aviation flights during operations in Syria,” a “positive step.”
The Defense Ministry said the memorandum “has important practical value. It regulates the actions of manned and unmanned aircraft in the airspace above Syria. The Memorandum contains a set of rules and limitations aimed at preventing incidents between the air forces of Russia and the US,” RT News reported.
The agreement sets up 24/7 communication channels between the two militaries and establishes a relationship between military commanders.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, The U.S. has also pledged to convey the details of the agreement to its anti-Islamic State partners so they may also follow the guidelines set in the memorandum and avoid conflict.
Russia began flying bombing missions in cooperation with the Syrian government three weeks ago. The U.S. has led an international coalition conducting airstrikes to combat Islamic State terrorists in the region for more than a year.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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