MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday stressed the importance of preventing mutual alienation and to save the potential for bilateral cooperation in his greetings to the German authorities on a national holiday, the Day of German Unity.
On Friday, Germany expressed its concern about the Russian campaign in Syria aimed against Islamic State terrorists.
"In the current complicated international situation, it is important to avoid mutual exclusion and to preserve the positive potential accumulated over the years of cooperation," Putin said, as cited by a statement issued by the Kremlin’s press service.
Russia launched airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria following a request from President Bashar Assad. Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad confirmed that Syrian Army strikes, supported by the Russian Air Force, were carried out against armed terrorist organizations and not political opposition factions or civilians.
Moscow and Berlin have seen a deterioration of relations over Ukraine’s internal conflict which escalated in 2014.
Since 2014, the European Union has introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions, accusing Moscow of interfering in the Ukrainian crisis — a claim repeatedly denied by Moscow.
