"Russia's actions in Syria are of course legitimate, the Syrian government invited Russia, which is observing international law there," said retired German army colonel Jochen Scholz at the conference, which was called "The fight against terrorism. The view from Moscow and Berlin," and took place simultaneously in the Russian and German capitals on Friday.
"In Germany politics is not supposed to involve itself in military affairs, therefore international legal conditions must be clearly and precisely considered before the state gets involved in a military operation."
"We are coming at this issue from a different position to the Russians. Russia is acting from an absolutely legitimate point of view … politicians have to decide how we (Germany) will battle with this Islamic extremism," explained Scholz.
The German armed forces are providing Germany's Augsburg naval frigate, use of the SAR-Lupe military reconnaissance satellite system, six Tornado reconnaissance jets, an aerial refueling aircraft and up to 1,200 soldiers who will operate the equipment at the disposal of the coalition.
