Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed those behind the massive drone attack on Russia's two Syrian bases which took place on January 6, saying in front of a large Russian media conference Thursday, "There were some provocateurs, but they were not Turks. We know who they are, who paid who for this provocation and what the actual sum was." Meanwhile the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reports that Putin has privately informed Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of which "provocateur" was behind a drone attack.

Earlier this week we reported that the Russian military in Syria thwarted the highly coordinated attack on Khmeimim air base and the Russian Naval facility in the city of Tartus, intercepting 13 heavily armed UAVs launched by terrorists. And underreported in international media was also a prior New Year's Eve attack carried out by a small squad of insurgents armed with mortars who were able to kill two Russian servicemen while damaging up to seven aircraft at Khmeimim Airbase, which constituted the single largest loss of Russian military hardware throughout the Syria campaign.