# When was the last public joint US-Russian joint military mission? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949 "2017-01-23T18:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/1 "2017-01-23T18:07:05Z")
Prompted by newspaper report today of joint Russian/US Syrian mission supposedly announced by Russia–cite not given because the Brit newspaper does not give a referencable cite. But the question is begged. In the query, “public joint” mission means 1. let people see the hardware, troops, and mission, ie, not a shadow take-down/elimination of a mutually desired target (e.g., some Chechen terrorist with eyes on US targets as well is handled by FSS and CIA) …1a) And if so, led by _someone_ with a national or supra-national identity (“coalition”) 1. Not, as heretofore in Syria, simultaneous operations that depending on target, time of day, and political atmosphere are announced as being “in mutual interest,” or something like that. (For that matter, for the life of me I can’t remember what the Russian status was in “The Coalition of the Willing,” of the Gulf War, which was, after all, enormous, at all political and even force-supplying levels.) ETA: I have the distinct feeling this was asked in GQ not so long ago–but perhaps it was specifically framed for WWII… ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/2 "2017-01-23T18:15:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > (For that matter, for the life of me I can’t remember what the Russian status was in “The Coalition of the Willing,” of the Gulf War, which was, after all, enormous, at all political and even force-supplying levels.) IIRC the Soviet Union was busy [falling apart at the time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union) and so basically stayed out of the way. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/3 "2017-01-23T20:31:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Prompted by newspaper report today of joint Russian/US Syrian mission supposedly announced by Russia–cite not given because the Brit newspaper does not give a referencable cite. > > … Well, [here](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4148880/Russian-warplanes-fly-combat-mission-Syria.html), for the historically curious, is the cite to the original quickie item in today’s Daily Mail, published with an update when I first posted, citeless and unelaborated. And [here](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4148880/Russian-warplanes-fly-combat-mission-Syria.html), to the newspaper’s credit, sort of, is “the” article (when does an update or correction make an entirely different news item?–deep waters not for GQ) following an update just nowish a few hours later, with a new hed, new subheds, more detail on the very fact of the first article (or its brethren today), with cites to US DOD, with the exact opposite statement–no joint mission/you’re out of your mind–the report expanded with politics of Russian “propaganda” and what not. But the OP GQ query is still begged, so all of that is in this context irrelevant, although “propaganda,” like “coalition,” _is_ bound up with any military event. But first QG-type things first. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/4 "2017-01-23T23:30:53Z")
The US and Russia jointly occupied Kosovo (along with the armed forces of a lot of other countries). ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/5 "2017-01-24T06:20:09Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > The US and Russia jointly occupied Kosovo (along with the armed forces of a lot of other countries). This was NOT a joint mission, it was very nearly a shooting war between US and Russia: > **[Incident at Pristina airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina_airport)** > >  NATO > Wartime events > Aftermath Though I am still mad at the ruskis for not saving the world from the evil of James Blake. Even if it might have started WWIII ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/6 "2017-01-24T06:24:18Z")
The last I can think of is the Boxer Rebellion: > [@](#): > > The Chinese army and Boxer irregulars besieged the Legation Quarter from 20 June to 14 August 1900. A total of 473 foreign civilians, 409 soldiers, marines and sailors from eight countries, and about 3,000 Chinese Christians took refuge there.[57] Under the command of the British minister to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the legation staff and military guards defended the compound with small arms, three machine guns, and one old muzzle-loaded cannon, which was nicknamed the International Gun because the barrel was British, the carriage Italian, the shells Russian and the crew American. > **[Boxer Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion#Russian_invasion_of_Manchuria)** > > Boxer Protocol > The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising or the Boxer Insurrection, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known as the "Boxers" in English due to many of its members having practised Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of forei... ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/7 "2017-01-24T06:31:40Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > This was NOT a joint mission, it was very nearly a shooting war between US and Russia: > [Incident at Pristina airport - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Pristina_airport) > > Though I am still mad at the ruskis for not saving the world from the evil of James Blake. Even if it might have started WWIII This is the incident where Wesley Clark nearly started WW3? WHat is is with Southern Europe and AMerican Generals names “Clark”? ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/8 "2017-01-24T06:48:11Z")
The Russians and the US had differing aims in Kosovo and the airport confrontation was real, but in fact they both sent troops to prevent civil war in Kosovo. That counts as a joint military operation. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-public-joint-us-russian-joint-military-mission/777949/9 "2017-01-24T10:58:47Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Though I am still mad at the ruskis for not saving the world from the evil of James Blake. Even if it might have started WWIII ITYM James Blunt. The Soviet Union and America cooperated on several space missions. And Russia and America routinely cooperate on ISS missions, often with military officers.