The United States "does not show willingness" to coordinate with Russia in the fight against the IS group, Russia's Foreign Ministry has said.
The Ministry's comments come ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow.
Russia's Foreign Ministry says that it is hoping to receive "clarification" from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry regarding the position of the United States on the Syrian conflict.
Kerry is expected to travel to Moscow tomorrow, December 15, for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Russia's Foreign Minstry has said that a planned visit to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for tomorrow, December 15, was organized following an urgent request by the United States.
Kerry is expected to discuss the Syrian crisis with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
"We look forward to a businesslike conversation with the U.S. Secretary of State on December 15," the ministry said in a statement.
U.S.-led forces have carried out three fresh strikes in Syria and 13 strikes in Iraq, according to a statement published by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The strikes in Syria were carried out by attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and hit IS targets near Deir al-Zor, Manbij and Mar'a.
The strikes in Iraq included raids near Mosul, Sinjar and Ramadi.
A Russia-Turkey summit in scheduled to take place tomorrow, December 15, in St. Petersburg has been cancelled, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been scheduled to attend the summit.
"No, it [the meeting] won't happen, it's not planned," Peskov told reporters.
Relations between Russia and Turkey have soured since Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border on November 24.
Although Egypt said earlier today that it has so far found no evidence of terrorism or other illegal action linked to the crash of the Russian passenger plane in Sinai, Cairo says that it will hire a foreign company to help improve its airport security, "seen as a weak link in the air safety chain," Reuters reports.
Russia and several Western states have said the Russian Airbus A321 was likely brought down by a bomb, and the IS group said its local affiliate in Egypt had smuggled an explosive on board.
U.S. President Obama is to chair a National Security Meeting on the campaign against the IS group at the Pentagon today, according to a White House statement,
According to the statement, "the President will receive an update from his national security team and discuss ways to further enhance our campaign to degrade and destroy the terrorist group."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is joining foreign ministers from European and Arab nations today in Paris for the latest talks on the battle against the IS group and efforts to foster a political resolution to the situation in Syria, Voice of America reports.
SDF Rebels Deny Receiving Direct Support From Russia
Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad in western Syria have denied receiving any support from the Russian air force, saying that Russia continued to bomb them, Reuters reports.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -- a recently-formed group some of whose members identify as FSA -- said its fighters had benefited indirectly from Russian air strikes during a recent battle with insurgents including Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliated the Al-Nusra Front.
The SDF denied that they had received direct support from Russia, according to Reuters.
An SDF spokesman told Reuters that the SDF was recently involved in a battle against Islamist rebels Ahrar al-Sham and the Turkish-based Levant (Sham) Front when Russian strikes hit Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Nusra front fighters.
"People are trying to direct the matter towards the [SDF] because they think that they offered logistical support to us. They did not offer logistical support," the spokesman told Reuters.
"There has been no contact, no agreement, or cooperation between us and the Russian army."
Two unpublished investigations show that the United States has consistently overlooked killings and torture by Iraqi government-sponsored Shi'ite militias, Reuters is reporting.
The investigations -- one by the Iraqi government and one by the U.S. military -- probed a secret prison in a Baghdad police building. The prison was raided in late 2005 by U.S. soldiers and run by militia commanders from the Badr Organization, a pro-Iran movement that now plays a major role in Iraq's fight against the IS group.
But neither of the two reports were ever released.