The permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the Syrian Democratic Forces had invited members of IS to fight within their ranks.

"In early January", Nebenzya told the UN Security Council, "The authorities of Syrian Kurdistan, unilaterally decided to pardon some four hundred former members of IS, including field commanders and caliphate officials," he said.

Nebenzya also went on to further accuse the SDF of inviting 120 of the released IS fighters into the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

"One hundred twenty of them entered the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The fact that such an issue remains virtually unnoticed serves as a testament to persistent double standards with respect to terrorists."

The Russian representative did not point to any official sources on the allegations.

On Friday, the media relations office of the SDF responded by accusing Russia of fabricating lies and appealed to Moscow to publicly acknowledge its own alleged collusion with IS.

"Mr Vasily Nebenzya should talk about the number of Russian citizens within IS ranks who are held captive in our prisons." Redur Khalil, SDF spokesperson, wrote in the public statement.

"Also the Russian delegation should not forget that we officially received representatives of his government, overtly, in order to hand over 23 Russian IS families who were detained by the People's Protection Units (YPG) after Raqqa's liberation."

The alleged handover was further confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which on the 12th of November claimed to have a video which showed "about 45 families of IS members from Federal Russia, who were held by the SDF after they got out from Al-Raqqa and other areas controlled by the SDF".

"The Russian indictment for our forces in this way is in harmony with the Turkish state in its aggression on Afrin and its justification for unjust war." Redur Khalil said.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces have thousands of IS detainees of various nationalities in their prisons, and their conditions are constantly followed up by the International Red Cross," Redur Khalil concluded.

Reporter’s code: 50101