Russia, US reach no agreement on sharing intelligence against IS

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Russia has reached no agreement with the United States over sharing intelligence against the extremist Islamic State (IS) group or sending military instructors to Iraq, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.

"There was no agreement that we would share information in the context of the activities of the so-called coalition set up by the Americans to combat the Islamic State, nor was there an agreement that we would send our instructors to train the Iraqi army," Lavrov told a local TV channel.

Lavrov made the clarification in response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks after their meeting in Paris on Oct. 14 that the two had agreed "to intensify intelligence cooperation with respect to ISIL (Islamic State) and other counter-terrorism challenges."

Kerry also said they "agreed to explore whether Russia could do more to support Iraqi Security Forces."

Recalling that meeting, Lavrov said that they did discuss steps to combat terrorism in the Middle East or the situation in the region as a whole.

"So I told John Kerry: if you want to work jointly, let's do so not selectively but in the framework of coordinated mechanisms," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

He referred to a bilateral presidential committee that comprised a special anti-terrorism group, which was disbanded after Moscow granted political asylum to fugitive U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden in August last year.

"Intelligence data exchanges really took place in the framework of the presidential commission," the to Russian diplomat said, citing the terrorist attack in Boston in April 2013 as an example.

"We ... provided the United States with data that unfortunately did not receive proper attention," he added.

Lavrov also said Russia had never asked the Western countries to lift sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

The sanctions, he added, undermined confidence in those countries "that consider themselves the leaders of the world economy and financial system."

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