Russia considers it right to maintain working contacts with Kurdish units in Syria as they are fighting against terrorists but Moscow is not supplying weapons to Kurds, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, May 15, according to TASS.

Putin thus commented on reports about Russian specialists’ contacts with Syrian Kurds.

"As the Kurdish factor is a real one in the situation in Syria and Kurdish armed units are taking part in combat operations against the so-called Islamic State and are among the most combat efficient units, we consider it right to maintain working contacts with them, even at least for avoiding possible collisions and situations that could create threats to our servicemen," the Russian leader said.

As Putin said, Russia is not supplying armaments to Syrian Kurds.

"There is no secret here: unlike other countries, we do not announce arms supplies to Kurdish formations and they don’t have any special need for our supplies as they have other sources of receiving these weapons. We do not think that we need to abyhow intensify this work," Putin said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the limited arming of Syrian Kurds to help in the fight against IS, the Pentagon announced recently, in a move bound to antagonize Turkey.

The equipment provided is set to include small arms, machine guns, construction equipment and armored vehicles. The supplies and weapons will be parceled out to be just enough to accomplish specific objectives related to Raqqa, an official added.