BRITAIN ACCUSES RUSSIA OF WAR CRIMES IN SYRIA
UNITED NATIONS Britain accused Russia of committing “war crimes” in Syria as world powers attacked Moscow Sunday in one of the most bitter meetings of the UN Security Council in recent memory.
As Russian jets took part in what rebels called the “scorched earth bombing” of Aleppo, Western powers charged Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, with undermining peace talks.
The almost complete rupture of relations between Russia and the Western powers played out in angry scenes at the UN’s New York headquarters, where Britain, France and the U.S. openly condemned Russia as “an international pariah.”
The exchanges marked the effective collapse of the US-led Syria peace process that had tried to get to Russia to use its influence in Syria to help bring an end to the six-year war that has claimed around 400,000 lives.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, singled out Russia’s use of bunkerbusting bombs to hit schools and hospitals operating in basements.
Earlier, Boris Johnson, the British Foreign Secretary, said Russia may have committed war crimes by bombing a UN aid convoy last week.