The Russian Federation's military said on Sunday that it had "valid doubts" about President Donald Trump's claim that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed.
In a speech from the White House on Sunday, Trump first thanked Russia for its assistance in the raid. According to Trump, Russia had allowed U.S. aircraft into its airspace to conduct the operation.
But later on Sunday, the Russian military indicated that it was unaware of the raid, according to BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg.
A spokesperson for the Russian military said there were "valid doubts about the reality & success" of the U.S. operation.
“We are not aware of any assistance having being given to US Air Force flights into the air space of the Idlib de-escalation zone in this operation,” a source in the Russian defense ministry added.
Moscow unconvinced by US claims that al-Baghdadi has been killed. Russian defence ministry refers to “valid doubts about the reality & success (of the operation), says “no air strikes by US or coalition forces registered in Idlib de-escalation zone on Saturday or recent days.”
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) October 27, 2019
Russian defence ministry: “We are not aware of any assistance having being given to US Air Force flights into the air space of the Idlib de-escalation zone in this operation...”
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) October 27, 2019
The early edition of Russian state tv’s flagship weekly news review led on “Russia’s Big Victory” & “Russia’s Huge Success” in Syria. It’ll be interesting to watch the later edition: will there be some hasty rewriting of script to take in al-Baghdadi? pic.twitter.com/aQNTSu5Y82
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) October 27, 2019
