Russia and the United States have agreed on the need to improve coordination to avert incidents while conducting military operations in Syria

Russia and the United States have agreed on the need to improve coordination to avert incidents while conducting military operations in Syria, the Russian defense ministry said on Sunday.

Military officials from the two countries reached the agreement at a video conference, the ministry said.

"The exchange of views about the incident was carried out in a constructive way with the both sides aiming to improve the coordination on fighting the terrorist organizations in Syria and in order to avert any incidents during military operations in this country," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement, Reuters news agency reported.

On Saturday the Pentagon said it had questioned Moscow over Russian air strikes conducted against US-backed Syrian militias last week. The Pentagon said Moscow had failed to heed US warnings.

Konashenkov dismissed the allegation, saying the Russian strikes hit about 300 km (190 miles) away from territory where the United States had said militias were operating.

He said Russia had notified the US-led coalition about the targets it was planning to strike.

"The Russian defense ministry for the past few months has been proposing to its American colleagues to draw a unified map, which would containing information about the location of the forces which were active in Syria. However, no material progress has been made on this issue," the spokesman said.