Humiliation for Boris as G7 snub call for sanctions against Assad
BORIS Johnson was humiliated yesterday when G7 foreign ministers rejected his plan to punish Russia for supporting Bashar al-Assad. The Foreign Secretary had demanded Vladimir Putin face tough sanctions unless he abandons the Syrian regime following last week’s chemical weapons attack.
But his plan was rebuffed by fellow foreign ministers who warned him that ‘Russia must not be pushed into a corner’.
The rejection of Mr Johnson’s sanctions plan is particularly embarrassing because he had cancelled a planned trip to Moscow at the weekend to concentrate on getting agreement for it.
It left the US-UK strategy in chaos just as America’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow for direct talks.
Mr Putin last night ratcheted up tensions by comparing reports of the chemical weapons attack with the discredited US claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
He claimed the Assad regime’s opponents had planned fake chemical weapon attacks to justify more US missile strikes.
A No10 source last night insisted Mr Johnson had the full support of Theresa May and dismissed claims he had failed his first big test.
‘There’s now unanimity from the G7 and regional partners that Assad must go,’ he added. On another dramatic day:
Turkey said it had found ‘concrete evidence’ that sarin gas was used in last week’s attack after traces of the chemical were found in samples taken from some of the victims,
Assad was accused of dropping several barrel bombs on insurgents in the Syrian city of Daraa just a day after the White
‘We must not push Russia into a corner’
House suggested use of the crude devices could provoke a US response.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said of the Syrian regime: ‘If they use chemical weapons, they will pay a very high price.
Mr Johnson had wanted Mr Putin to face threats of further isolation if he did not break his ties with Assad, depriving the dictator of his key supporter.
But a joint communique signed yesterday by the G7 – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and America – failed to mention sanctions on Russia.
Instead, the adopted conclusions called on the Russian president to play a constructive role in bringing about peace.
Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano, who hosted the meeting at Lucca, told a closing press conference: ‘We must have a dialogue … and we must not push Russia into a corner. There is no consensus on new sanctions.’
French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: ‘The question wasn’t mentioned by anyone except Boris Johnson but we didn’t talk about it any further.’
Mr Johnson last night sought to salvage his diplomatic reputation by insisting some Russian figures could still face sanctions if an independent investigation found evidence of involvement in last week’s chemical attack that killed at least 89 people. ‘That is something that had wide acceptance around the table last night, but you have got to do things in the proper legal way,’ he said.
Mr Johnson claimed there was now an opportunity for Mr Putin to ‘reset’ relations with the West. ‘They have a big strategic choice: Do they want to stick with this guy who is poisoning his own people and poisoning the reputation of Russia?’ he told Sky News. Mr Tillerson, who last night flew to Moscow to meet with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, said Mr Putin needed to decide whose side he was on.
‘It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,’ he said. ‘We want to create a future for Syria that is stable and secure. Russia can be a part of that future.’ Theresa May and Mr Trump had agreed in a telephone call on Monday night that there was a ‘window of opportunity’ to persuade Mr Putin to abandon his Syrian ally.
A Foreign Office source rejected the criticism of Mr Johnson. ‘It was simply the right thing to do to try to push other countries to punish war criminals and murderers.’