Sergey Ivanov said on Wednesday that the Federation Council backed Putin's request for approval unanimously.
"The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.
He said Putin's move followed a request for the military help by Assad.
Ivanon said that the operation by the Russian air force was limited in time and the types of the used weapons were not disclosed.
Putin's request came on Wednesday, two days after he suggested at the UN General Assembly in New York teaming up with the US to carry out air strikes against ISIL in Syria, but ruled out any ground operation in the country.
Parliamentary approval
Putin has to request a parliamentary approval for any use of Russian troops abroad, according to the Russian constitution.
The last time he did so was before Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
The Kremlin reported that Putin hosted a meeting of the Russian security council at his residence on Tuesday night outside of Moscow, saying that they were discussing "terrorism and extremism".
On Saturday, Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, told Al Jazeera that Russia was intending to step up its military involvement in Syria to prevent the "imminent" collapse of the Syrian government...
aljazeera.com
30/9/15
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Related:
- Russia's upper house of parliament has voted to allow the military to be deployed in Syria, paving the way for air strikes on the militant Islamic State (IS) group...
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Syrian President Bashar Assad has requested military assistance from Russia in a letter to President Vladimir Putin, Damascus confirmed Wednesday....
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The statement came after Russia's parliament approved a request from Putin to begin air strikes in Syria.
Moscow gave no details of the planned operation, but said it would be limited in time and would not include ground troops............AFP