TRUMP CRISIS
Did Ivanka trigger her father’s change of heart? Boris Johnson savaged as he pulls out of Moscow peace talks
THE Kremlin has launched a furious attack on Boris Johnson after he cancelled a Moscow summit on the Syrian war.
Russia accused Britain’s Foreign Secretary of ‘making up absurd excuses’ after he made way for Donald Trump to lead the diplomatic drive. In Britain, opponents dubbed him a ‘poodle’ of Washington. But Mr Johnson, who was due to fly to Moscow today, insisted he had cancelled the trip to enable US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to deliver ‘a clear and co-ordinated message’ to Vladimir Putin.
As tensions between the US and Russia intensified, a Russian warship laden with cruise missiles was heading to Syria last night.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces launched a new missile blitz on the rebel-held town that was attacked with Sarin gas last week. In the assault yesterday morning, a woman was reportedly killed and three others were wounded.
Further details also emerged about Mr Trump’s decision to attack Syrian forces on Friday. The US President was offered three highstakes options by his military advisers, the MoS can reveal, and chose the least deadly.
The alternatives that he discarded involved launching attacks on three or more air bases at the same time and, even riskier, hitting both air and army bases.
Aides said he wanted to send a signal that was aggressive but ‘proportionate’ and authorised the firing of 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat airbase – from where Syria is thought to have launched the chemical attack. While the US has warned that it is prepared to launch more cruise missile attacks, experts played down the likelihood unless the Syrian regime commits further atrocities.
Mr Johnson had been due to meet his Russian opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, to express British anger over Mr Putin’s military support for the Syrian president.
But his plans were thrown into confusion by Mr Trump’s action.
Following a phone conversation with Mr Tillerson on Friday evening, Mr Johnson released a statement in which he said ‘developments’ had ‘changed the situation fundamentally’ and he would instead concentrate on building ‘coordinated international support for a ceasefire’ at a G7 meeting in Italy on Tuesday.
However, Kremlin sources said they believed the real reason for the cancellation of Mr Johnson’s trip was that he had been ordered by Washington to abort it to avoid upstaging Mr Tillerson.
Mr Putin’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said: ‘Our Western colleagues live in their own reality where they first try to make collective plans and then cancel them by making up
‘His diary is managed from across the pond’
absurd excuses.’ The Kremlin’s view found an echo in Westminster, with Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron saying: ‘Boris has revealed himself to be a poodle of Washington, having his diary managed from across the pond. It is pretty shameful when even Trump judges you to be a buffoon.’
There was further reaction around the world yesterday to the US bombardment. While it was welcomed by Turkey, its foreign minister warned that it would remain a ‘cosmetic intervention’ unless it achieved regime change.
North Korea said Friday’s strike was an ‘unforgivable act of aggression’ – adding that it proved its own decision to develop nuclear weapons was ‘the right choice a million times over’.
As Russia condemned the missile strikes as an act of ‘aggression
against a sovereign state in violation of international law’, the White House warned that it would take further action against Syrian president Bashar Assad if he used chemical weapons again.
A Foreign Office source said that it was Mr Johnson who had first suggested pulling out of the trip, saying to Mr Tillerson: ‘Are we looking at this the wrong way, Rex? Is it more harmful than helpful for me to go? After all it was you guys who put the missiles in and have all the leverage.’
When an adviser warned that cancelling might look bad, Mr Johnson is said to have responded: ‘I don’t care what it looks like politically, what matters is resolving the conflict’.
Last night, former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind told the MoS that Mr Johnson ‘will be fed up but he had little choice’. One highly placed US diplomatic source told this newspaper that there had been concern in Washington that Moscow could use Mr Johnson’s visit as an excuse to cancel the Tillerson visit, using Johnson as a go-between to avoid direct talks with the Trump team. If Mr Johnson had gone ahead with his trip, he would have flown straight into a row with Ms Zakharova, Putin’s glamorous aide. The MoS revealed earlier this year that Mr Johnson was angered by an invitation to Ms Zakharova, 41, to be guest of honour at a House of Commons reception. The event was cancelled after the Foreign Secretary’s allies made clear his displeasure at the idea of her being given a propaganda platform. An angry Ms Zakharova launched a competition, inviting people to submit cartoons ridiculing Mr Johnson. The winner of the contest was a pygmysized Boris who was depicted as dwarfed by Ms Zakharova’s stiletto heel.