Russia n President Vladimir Putin ruled out on Sunday the possibility of sending Russian troops for ground operations in Russia’s ongoing military intervention in the war-torn Syria . “This is out of the question,” Putin was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel. He said Russia is not going to do this no matter what happens, and “our Syrian friends know about it.” In response to allegations from Western countries and media that the Russian air campaign in Syria has not targeted the Islamic State (IS) and has led to civilian casualties, the Russian leader retorted that Russia conducted enough reconnaissance before launching the counter-terror attacks. “We have continuously carried out aerial and space reconnaissance, comparing the data we obtained from different sources,” he said. He added that Moscow notified the United States and […]