Tillerson warns Russia about Syrian regime

PUTIN IS LIKEWISE WARNING TRUMP THAT ANOTHER MISSILE STRIKE ON ASSAD’S FORCES IS ‘UNACCEPTABLE’

MOSCOW • As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived here Tuesday with a demand that Moscow back away from the Syrian government, Russian officials said relations with the United States had reached their lowest point since the Cold War.

Following U.S. missile strikes on Syria last week, the foreign ministry said it was concerned that the Trump administration might be considering a similar blow against North Korea.

And even before Tillerson got off his plane in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference the Kremlin has “information” that provocateurs are planning to plant chemical substances in suburban Damascus and blame it on Syrian authorities. He gave no further details on the claim.

But he noted the situation in Syria reminded him of events in Iraq before the United States invaded in 2003, an allusion to unfounded assertions of weapons of mass destruction that the George W. Bush administration used to justify the war. He also said Western countries divided over the election of President Donald Trump were scapegoating Russia and Syria. “We’ve seen all this before,” Putin said.

And the Russian general staff has put the United States on notice, saying that another missile strike would be “unacceptable.”

Russia and Iran back the government of President Bashar Assad, while rebel factions supported by the West and its partners have been largely driven back by withering attacks, including the use of a suspected nerve agent on a rebel stronghold that left at least 70 people dead last week. Putin’s spokesman said it remained unclear whether the Russian leader would meet directly with Tillerson.

Before departing Italy — where he met with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and other “like-minded” allies in the Group of Seven major advanced economies, and diplomats from largely Muslim nations — Tillerson told reporters that the United States is aiming for a negotiated end to six years of conflict in Syria and wants Russia’s help in ushering Assad out of office.

Claiming that Assad’s rule “is coming to an end,” Tillerson previewed his message to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“We hope that the Russian government concludes that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad,” he said.

In what was in effect an ultimatum, he said Moscow must calculate the costs of remaining an ally of Assad, the Iranians and Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah.

“Is that a long-term alliance that serves Russia’s interests?” he told reporters. “Or would Russia prefer to realign with the United States, with other Western countries and Middle East countries that are seeking to resolve the Syrian crisis?”

Russia has maintained that last week’s Syrian government airstrike hit a factory where Syrian rebels were manufacturing chemical weapons in the northern Idlib province. After the U.S. missile strikes, Peskov asserted the Syrian government “has no chemical arms stockpiles.”

Moscow says it fulfilled its part of a 2013 agreement mandating Russia oversee the destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal. On Monday, Russia’s general staff said two locations where chemical weapons might remain are in territory controlled by Syrian rebels.

But Tillerson said last week’s attack with a suspected nerve agent shows Moscow either did not take its obligations seriously or was incompetent. In either case, the distinction “doesn’t much matter to the dead.”

Turkey’s health minister said Tuesday that test results conducted on victims of one of the chemical attacks in northern Syria confirm sarin gas was used. Recep Akdag said Tuesday that blood and urine samples taken from the victims confirmed they were subjected to the nerve agent.

“We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian people,” Tillerson said, and issued an ultimatum: “Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role. Or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia’s interests longer term.”

Freeland echoed those comments, telling reporters in Italy: “Russia needs to decide whether it wants to double down on its support of a murderous regime that is committing war crimes, or whether right now it wants to say, ‘You know what? We do not want to be associated with this, this is not where we want our country to be.’”

“I really do hope Russia will take this opportunity to be on the right side of history,” Freeland said.

IS THAT A LONG-TERM ALLIANCE THAT SERVES RUSSIA’S INTERESTS?