Russia bashes Trump as Syria gas attack hits detente hopes

Bloomberg

Russia accused President Donald Trump of rushing to judgement after an apparent poison-gas attack in Syria prompted the harshest US criticism of the Kremlin under the new administration, further denting hopes of a breakthrough in relations.
“We would welcome a more considered approach,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. “This is a dangerous and heinous crime but it’s hasty to put labels on it.”
The U.S. blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack in the northwestern province of Idlib that killed more than 70 people, and criticized Russia for backing Assad in pointing the finger at rebels opposed to his rule. Trump said the “heinous actions by the Assad regime” had changed his thinking on the civil war and went “beyond red lines.”
Until recently, Syria had seemed the one area where Putin and Trump were certain to find common ground. Trump during his election campaign had pledged to cooperate with Russia in fighting terrorism and top officials have made clear that the U.S. no longer seeks regime change in Syria.
But the U.S. military is reluctant to join forces with Russia in Syria and the latest events in the war-torn country place the former Cold War rivals as far apart as they were during Barack Obama’s presidency, even if Trump is likely to avoid direct conflict.
“Some people believed in a miracle,” Sergei Karaganov, a former Putin foreign policy adviser, said of the hope for a new page in US-Russia relations under Trump. “It didn’t happen.”

Tillerson Talks
Putin is expected to meet U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his first visit to Russia as the Trump administration’s top diplomat next week, with Syria high on the agenda. The U.S. is also at odds with the Kremlin over Russia’s contacts with the Taliban in Afghanistan, its deepening involvement in rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine and actions in Libya seen as undermining the United Nations-backed
government.
The use of chemical weapons by Syria would violate an accord brokered by Obama and Putin for the Assad government to surrender its stockpiles after an August 2013 sarin-gas attack killed more than 1,000 people in a Damascus suburb.
Russia’s in a very difficult position over the gas attack, according to Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based research group set up by the Kremlin. “To try and brush it under the carpet is the worst option because it will turn into a major obstacle for our cooperation with the U.S. in any sphere and will destroy trust with the new administration,” he said.
‘Unacceptable’ Resolution
Russia denounced as “categorically unacceptable” a UN Security Council resolution condemning the attack that was proposed by the U.S, the U.K. and France. It blamed Tuesday’s deadly incident on rebels, saying that the Syrian air force hit an ammunition depot where chemical weapons were stored.
Putin discussed Syria by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, and stressed the “unacceptability” of airing “unfounded accusations” without a thorough and impartial international investigation, according to an emailed Kremlin statement.
The Security Council debate on Wednesday was a throwback to the worst US-Russia tensions witnessed under Obama.

Kremlin support for Assad not
unconditional

MOSCOW / AP

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman tells The Associated Press that Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is not unconditional.
Dmitry Peskov spoke two days after a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held province. Moscow, Assad’s key backer, has been supporting the Syrian government militarily since 2015. Turkey said on Thursday that autopsies of Syrian victims from this week’s assault in Idlib province, which happened 60 miles from the Turkish border, show they were subjected to chemical weapons.
The Syrian government maintains it didn’t use chemical weapons, instead blaming the rebels for stockpiling the deadly chemicals.