Russia says military specialists 'died tragically' in Syria

Russia said on Thursday that a number of its military specialists had been killed in Syria, without providing any further details.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that in mid-January, Russian and Turkish militaries made a new attempt to impose a ceasefire in Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone, but "terrorists... ramped up their attacks." "The number of dead and wounded among Syrian servicemen and civilians outside the de-escalation zone has grown into the hundreds. Russian and Turkish military specialists have died tragically," the statement said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment to journalists, referring all questions to the foreign and defence ministry. Foreign ministry spokespeople declined immediate comment.

Novaya Gazeta, a leading independent newspaper, reported this week that four officers from the FSB security service had been killed in Syria in early February.

Citing sources, the newspaper said that the officers had been killed in an ambush near Latakia which is controlled by government forces.

Moscow has not confirmed the reports.