Free Syrian Army groups say did not visit Moscow

BEIRUT - Reuters

A fighter from the Free Syrian Army's Al Rahman legion carries a weapon as he walks towards his position on the front line against the forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, in this July 27, 2015 file photo. Reuters Photo

Delegations from Free Syrian Army rebel groups did not visit Moscow, representatives of four factions fighting under the FSA banner told Reuters on Oct. 27, denying Russian news agency reports that such visits had taken place. 

"This talk is not correct," said Ahmed al-Seoud, head of the FSA-affiliated 13th Division group, which operates in areas of western Syria being attacked by Russian warplanes. 

The spokesman for Alwiyat Seif al-Sham, an FSA group operating in southern Syria, said: "Nothing of this sort happened on our part as FSA. It is impossible for us to accept going to Moscow, and to have dialogue with it. We don't want their help." 

"We contacted our friends in other areas and nobody went," added the spokesman, Abu Ghiath al-Shami. 

Russian Foreign Ministry official Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted by Interfax news agency on Oct. 27 as saying delegations from the Free Syrian Army had visited Moscow several times, including this week. 

The Free Syrian Army is a loose alliance of rebel groups, some of them recipients of military support from President Bashar al-Assad's foreign enemies. It does not operate with a centralised command structure.