Russia President Vladimir Putin of Russia believes US strike on a Syrian air base is an aggression against a sovereign state and a violation of international law.
Putin thinks Donald Trump launched the attack under “far-fetched pretext”, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement on Friday.
The US President launched 59 missiles at the Syrian base from which this week’s gruesome chemical attack is thought to have originated.
The Syrian military is reporting at least six people have been killed and several more injured.
It’s a move that has put Trump on a collision course with Putin, ending the two world leaders’ relatively cordial relationship, reports say.
Russia has argued that the death of civilians in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday resulted from Syrian forces hitting a rebel chemical arsenal there.
Peskov said the US has previously ignored the use of chemical weapons by Syrian rebels and that the Syrian government has destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles under international control.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Kremlin-controlled upper house, said the prospective US-Russian anti-terror coalition has been “put to rest without even being born.”
He called the attack that almost destroyed Shayrat military base near Homs, in the country’s west, “a pity”, suggesting the US President had been pressured into the act by the Pentagon.
“Russian cruise missiles strike the terrorists, US missiles strike Syrian government forces who are spearheading the fight against the terrorists,” he added.
A US defence official said Russians were present at the base, and the US military contacted its Russian counterparts about the attack ahead of time. But this does not appear to have been enough to prevent the icing over of relations.
Mr Trump’s core supporters in the US also turned on him over his change of attitude towards Syria, with right-wing commentators declaring themselves “OFF the Trump train”.
Source – NAN
