© REUTERS/ Mahmoud Hebbo
The main news resource of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Rudaw, has posted photos, which, according to the website, feature servicemen from Russia's center for Syrian reconciliation and military hardware with Russian flags that arrived on Monday in the area of the city of Afrin in northern Syria.
Nawaf Khalil, head of the Germany-based Kurdish Center for Studies, confirmed to Sputnik the report providing video footage he said featured the entry of military hardware with Russian flags into a village there.
Comment: RFE/RL
reports claims made by Syrian Kurds that these Russian forces will soon be training them:
Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria say they will receive military training from Russian troops that have established a presence in the Kurdish enclave of Efrin on the border with Turkey.
Redur Xelil, a spokesman for Kurdish units known as People's Protection Units (YPG), said on March 20 that Russia would provide training in "modern warfare" to the Kurdish militia.
Russia's Defense Ministry rejected the Kurdish claim, saying Russian soldiers were embedded with the YPG in northern Syria to monitor the YPG's cease-fire with rival Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces.
Comment: RFE/RL reports claims made by Syrian Kurds that these Russian forces will soon be training them: