The Russian Ministry of Defense Advised the US State Department “to Work with Pencils on Contour Maps”

The US side should check its knowledge of the UN Security Council resolution, an official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said, commenting on the statements of the US Department of State on the Russia’s use of the Hamadan air base in Iran to carry out airstrikes on the Islamic State (IS) and the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups.

“Normally we do not give advices the leadership of the US Department of State. However, this time, it is difficult to refrain from recommendations for individual representatives of the State Department to check for logic and knowledge of the fundamental documents of the international law. And they should start with check of knowledge of the UN Security Council resolution № 2331,” Konashenkov said.

The representative of the Defense Ministry noted that the document refers to the need to obtain permission of the UN Security Council for “selling”, “transfer” or “use” of combat aircraft “inside of Iran”.

“In addition, we would like once again advise the State Department representatives to work with color pencils on contour maps and discover for themselves that Syria is a separate sovereign state,” Konashenkov added.

At the same time, as the Izvestiya newspaper reported, citing First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security Council of the Russia Federation, Franz Klintsevich, Russia will increase the number of long-range air power missions to help the Syrian Army to repel possible counterattacks of terrorists and complete their rout.

The use of the Hamadan air base contributes to the growth of the intensity of the long-range aviation’s use.

According to an informed source in the military circles, the use of this air base will allow the Tu-22M3 bombers to patrol over the Syrian territory and operatively carry out airstrikes on targets, detected by the intelligence. The source allowed to understand that the Russian Air Force’s airstrikes has already helped to disrupt the terrorists’ offensive under Aleppo, and now will facilitate the final defeat of the extremists’ groups.