Russia, Iran, Syria Issue Warning to US

“We have seen very alarming actions recently with an unlawful attack against Syria”, Lavrov said, referring to the 59 Tomahawk missiles Trump launched at an air base to punish Assad for using chemical weapons.

Russian Federation vetoed a Western draft United Nations resolution Wednesday saying it failed to mention the need to inspect the area of the attack.

Following the discussions in Moscow, Russia vetoed a resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council by the US, Britain and France ostensibly supporting an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the alleged chemical weapons attack, but in language clearly indicting the Syrian government.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson look at each other as they shake hands after the news conference following their talks in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 12, 2017.

Safronkov said Russia’s Foreign Minister asked U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during talks earlier Wednesday in Moscow to jointly request the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “to immediately put together an independent worldwide mission” to visit Khan Sheikhoun and the air base that the U.S. attacked in retaliation. Tillerson called for Assad to eventually relinquish power.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that Russian Federation by vetoing a Security Council draft has said no to peace in Syria.

“I’m amazed that this was the conclusion”.

He said the visit – the first to Moscow by a senior Trump administration official – offered an opportunity to clarify the chances of cooperation “above all on the formation of a broad anti-terrorist front”. He likened the US response in bombing a Syrian air base to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that now just as then Washington relied on false data about chemical weapons.

Russian Federation wasn’t alone in rejecting the American-French-British measure that would condemn the chemical weapon attack in Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib province on April 4.

USA officials have suggested Russian forces may have colluded in the latest atrocity blamed on Assad’s regime, and it remained unclear if Tillerson will be invited to meet Putin.

The polarized positions were evident too at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, when Russian Federation vetoed a Western-drafted resolution that would have required Syrian cooperation in an investigation into the suspected chemical attack.

Earlier this week, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad told Sputnik that Muallem would visit Moscow soon in relation to the latest events in the Syrian province of Idlib and the United States attack on a Syrian airbase.

Russian Federation has argued that civilians in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun likely died of toxic agents released from a rebel arsenal hit by a Syrian airstrike – a theory categorically rejected by the USA and its allies.

Trump’s comments on the state of U.S.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council that samples taken from the site of the April 4 attack had been analyzed by British scientists and tested positive for the nerve gas sarin.

The Russian and Syrian governments have both denied involvement in the chemical attack.

Russian Federation vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria last week and called on the government there to cooperate with an investigation into the incident. Each made it clear in no uncertain terms: Washington will no longer turn a blind eye to Syrian atrocities – or Moscow’s continuing cover-up of those crimes.