Western media reports that Russia is not withdrawing its forces from Syria are “myths and speculations,” according to Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, who spoke to the press Wednesday, TASS reported. “I don’t know what sources Western media have. As a member of the Federation Council, I can responsibly state that the decision of Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin on withdrawing the main part of the task force from Syria is being fulfilled,” Matviyenko said.
Reports that Russia is not really pulling its forces out of Syria are “speculations, myths, an attempt to put a fly in the ointment,” Matviyenko, who recently visited Israel, insisted. “They do not want to admit that Russia successfully joined the resolution of the Syrian crisis, carried out successful actions and took leading positions.”
Matviyenko noted that Moscow openly stated that the Russian military bases in Syria would remain even after the withdrawal of the main contingency from the country, because the “terrorism threat persists.”
“Terrorists should be fought until the end, until they are completely destroyed,” she said.
A senior Israeli Air Force officer told Defense News on Monday that “despite Putin’s widely publicized, mid-March order to evacuate the bulk of his forces from Syria, Russian air power in the country remains substantial, with newly deployed attack helicopters replacing many of the fighter bombers that have made their way home.”
The Kremlin released a statement on March 14 saying the Russian and Syrian presidents had agreed to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian aviation task force from Syria, seeing as the Russian Aerospace Forces had fulfilled their fundamental tasks, which began on September 30, 2015.
Russia maintains an air flight control center in the Syrian territory that will monitor the observation of the Syrian ceasefire, the Kremlin said. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered the Russian troops’ withdrawal as of March 15.
But last week Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said that Russian forces would nevertheless continue delivering airstrikes at terrorists in Syria.
The ceasefire between government forces and the rebels in Syria took effect on February 27.