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A senior US official said Shoigu told Carter that Russia’s increased military activities are defensive in nature, and designed to honor Moscow’s commitments to the Assad government.

“The secretary and the minister talked about areas where the United States and Russia´s perspectives overlap and areas of divergence”, he said.

“The secretary and the minister talked about areas where the United States and Russia’s perspectives overlap and areas of divergence”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The West has raised concern over signs of an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, which Washington says signals Moscow’s intention to set up a forward air base there.

United States officials said in recent days that they are seeking answers to myriad questions about the precise reasoning behind Moscow’s recent deliveries of material and manpower to a base in northern Syria.

Washington, which has seen Assad as the cause of the Syrian crisis, has been concerned by an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria and warned Moscow that it could further destabilize the situation.

“Pranks are amusing . Homophobia, however is never amusing “, he wrote beside a photo of a young man with a bloodied nose.

Comedians Vladimir Krasnov and Aleksi Stolyarov told Russian media that they targeted the singer after he said he wished to meet the Russian president to discuss rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, Reuters reports.

Asked Wednesday if Russia plans to create a base in Syria, Gen. Nikolai Bogdanovsky, a deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, said, according to Russian news agencies, that “there are no such plans as of today, but anything may happen”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow will continue supporting the Syrian government with military and technical aid in its fight against terrorists such as the Islamic State.

Russian Federation continues to send military equipment to Syria despite complaints from the USA, which is anxious about escalating the conflict between government forces and rebel groups hoping to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“There is now no Iranian initiative, but rather there are ideas, or principles, for an Iranian initiative which are based principally on the subject of Syria’s sovereignty… and are based on fighting terrorism“, Assad said.

US officials have voiced concern about Russia’s increasing military presence in Syria, saying it appears to be aimed at strengthening the government of Assad, a longtime Russian ally, rather than seeking a transition to a new political leadership.

Russian Federation has positioned about a half dozen tanks at an airfield at the centre of a military build-up in Syria, according to two United States officials.

Washington expressed concern over the Russian military build-up in Syria and put pressure on countries nearby to deny their air space to Russian flights to the country.