MOSCOW – Russia dramatically escalated its denunciations of American threats to attack Syrian military targets on
Saturday, as President Vladimir Putin called the arguments about
chemical weapons that underlie the U.S. case “utter nonsense.”
The Foreign Ministry said a U.S. attack would be a “gross violation” of international law.
Speaking out for the first time since an alleged chemical weapons
attack near Damascus on Aug. 21, Putin called on President Obama to find
a nonviolent way out of the crisis.
“I would like to address Obama as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate:
Before using force in Syria, it would be good to think about future
casualties,” Putin told Russian news agencies in Vladivostok during a
tour of the country’s flood-stricken Far East.
“Russia is urging you to think twice before making a decision on an operation in Syria,” he said.
Next week’s Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg would be a
good forum for discussing the Syrian issue, he said, “so why not take
advantage of it?”
The White House argued Friday that intelligence shows more than 1,400 people died from exposure to chemical weapons in an attack carried out by the Syrian military.
Putin said he was sure the attack was the work of rebels trying to
provoke international — and especially American — involvement in the
Syrian conflict. The regime of Bashar al-Assad, he said, would have had
no reason to use chemical weapons at a time when it had gained the upper
hand in the fighting.
“While the Syrian army is on the offensive, saying that it is the
Syrian government that used chemical weapons is utter nonsense,” Putin
said.
On top of that, he said, the Obama administration’s “claims that
proof exists, but is classified and cannot be presented to anybody, are
below criticism. This is plain disrespect for their partners.”
Putin’s comments were soon underlined by a stern statement from the
Foreign Ministry. After U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul had finished a
meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Saturday, the
ministry declared, “Russia has expressed its conviction that any
forceful action against Syria that the U.S. could carry out in
circumvention of the U.N. Security Council would be an act of aggression
and a gross violation of international law.”
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