BREAKING NEWS

Russian volunteers likely to fight in Syria, says senior lawmaker

MOSCOW - Russian volunteers who have honed their combat skills in Ukraine are likely to travel to Syria to fight alongside the forces of President Bashar Assad, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the Russian parliament's defense committee, said on Monday.
"It is likely that groups of Russian volunteers will appear in the ranks of the Syrian army as combat participants," Komoyedov told the Interfax-AVN news agency.
The Kremlin has said that Russia has no current plans to deploy ground troops to Syria and will confine itself to conducting air strikes to support the Syrian army instead. It has not yet offered a view on the possibility of Russian volunteers or mercenaries fighting in Syria.