Seeking to Salvage Ties, Tillerson Talks Syria in Moscow

Moscow has stood by Assad, saying the poison gas belonged to rebels, an explanation Washington dismisses as beyond credible.

British scientists have found sarin in samples taken from the site of an alleged chemical gas attack in Syria.

Lavrov said both countries should work together and noted that Moscow does “not consider any closed alliances and misalliances productive”. “It is unclear whether Russian Federation failed to take this obligation seriously or Russian Federation has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn’t much matter to the dead”.

Vladimir Safronkov told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the chemical attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun needs to be investigated and he asked how French experts determined who was responsible when nobody has visited the area.

Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, there has been conclusive evidence that chemical weapons have been used against civilians at different times and locations.

“We want to create a future for Syria that is stable and secure”, Tillerson said.

The presidents of the United States and Russian Federation have both presented souring views of the relationship between their two countries, exchanging sharp words as Moscow extended an icy welcome to the United States’ top diplomat in a face-off over Syria.

Last week’s attack prompted Washington to launch a barrage of Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian air base.

“Our policy is consistent and it’s formulated exclusively on the basis of global law and not under the impact of current opportunistic motives or false choice: ‘You are with us or against us, ‘” Lavrov told Tillerson.

Russian Federation blocked a Western effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn last week’s deadly gas attack in Syria and push Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with global inquiries into the incident. Trump launched a volley of missile strikes at the Syrian air base in response.

Moscow’s hostility to Trump administration figures is a sharp change from past year, when Putin hailed Trump as a strong figure and Russian state television was consistently full of effusive praise for him.

Earlier Wednesday, Russia’s top diplomat accused the United States of carrying out an unlawful attack against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

“If you gas a baby and put a barrel bomb in to kill innocent people, you will see a response from this President”, U.S. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

In an interview with the Fox Business Network, Trump said he was not planning to order U.S. forces into Syria, but that he had to respond to the images of dead children poisoned in the gas attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after complaining of worsening ties with Donald Trump’s administration as the two sides spar over Syria.

The Russian Minister, added that recent United States statements have been issued “alongside some alarming actions, notably the illegal attack against Syria”. The U.S. and Russian Federation have sharply disagreed over whether Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces or rebels were responsible for the chemical weapons attack last week that led to U.S. retaliatory cruise missiles.

Russian Federation said the USA strike was illegal though and Lavrov repeated Moscow’s stance on Wednesday, saying an worldwide investigation should be left to determine who was to blame and what happened.

The pair told a news conference in Moscow that they had tried to seek common ground on a range of issues in a “frank” discussion.

The Kremlin previously refused to say whether Putin would meet with Tillerson in Moscow.

Lavrov also announced that Putin has agreed to reinstate a military “deconfliction” channel to ensure there are no unintended clashes in the skies above Syria.

He also criticized US foreign policy, calling it “ambiguous” and “contradictory”.

He said earlier he would ask The Hague and the worldwide community to investigate the allegations.

“We are obviously paying close attention in the environment in the wake of these strikes and remain appropriately postured to respond as necessarily”. He says that makes it hard to have clarity about US positions.

“It’s really pitiful to hear such irresponsible and provocative statements from the most important leader in the Western world”, Ja’afari said.

This military action demonstrates that the United States will not passively stand by while Assad blithely ignores global law and employs chemical weapons he had declared destroyed, he added. That, Trump said, is “very bad for Russia” and “very bad for mankind” and the world.

Moscow’s hostility to Trump administration figures is a sharp change from previous year, when Putin hailed Trump as a strong figure and Russian state television was often full of effusive praise for him. Tillerson has a meeting set later Wednesday in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.