MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/: Russian military cannot confirm yet that Islamic State (IS, terrorist organization banned in Russia) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed as was announced earlier by the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Rossiya-24 TV channel on Friday.
"The defense ministry has already commented on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We want to get more information. It was announced in a very solemn and triumphant manner, but our military are still looking into more information. They cannot yet confirm many of the things that the US said. So, I will leave this situation be," Lavrov said.
"However, elimination of terrorists, if it did take place after all (since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported dead many times), is probably a positive step, considering his instrumental role in forming the Islamic State and trying to establish a caliphate," he added.
The Russian foreign minister reminded that IS emerged "after an illegal intervention [by the US and its allies] in Iraq, after the Iraqi state was destroyed and extremists from prisons were released." "That's why to a certain extent, Americans eliminated someone for whose emergence they themselves were responsible, if this really did take place," Lavrov said.
US President Donald Trump announced on October 27 that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a special forces operation in the Syrian province of Idlib. The Russian defense ministry said that it does not have enough credible information to confirm al-Baghdadi's death.
