Anti-terror campaign in Syria not burden on our budget: Moscow

Speaking to reporters in a Friday conference call, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that his country’s air campaign in the Arab country did not burden the Defense Ministry's budget with any additional financial allocations, AFP reported.
 
He also noted that the military operation in Syria was not noticeable in financial terms in comparison with the large-scale military drills that Russia has held recently.
 
    President Vladimir Putin's spokesman further reiterated that Moscow’s goal is to fight Daesh Takfiri terrorists and “other extremist terrorist groups, efforts that are ultimately aimed at preserving Syria as a single state,” adding that Russia has no intention of engaging in a ground war against the terror groups in Syria.
 
Meanwhile, in an interview with Russia Today in Damascus, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said that Moscow is fulfilling its “obligations assumed in the UN Security Council, at the General Assembly and in all international forums” by fighting terrorism.
 
“This is precisely what Russia is doing in Syria, in coordination with the army of Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian government,” he added.
 
Speaking about Russia's naval and airborne operations against terrorist groups in the Middle Eastern country, Mekdad said that Moscow had openly reported on the number of missiles and the targets that were hit.
 
Earlier on Friday, the deputy chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Makushev, reported that his country’s Air Force had successfully hit “60 terrorist targets” in Syria during the latest round of airstrikes.
 
Moscow began its military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.