The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Russia urged to abandon support for Assad regime
US Secretary of State tells Moscow Syrian president’s reign is ‘coming to an end’
America’s top diplomat will warn Russia to abandon its support for Syria’s President Bashar Assad, insisting there is no future for his regime following the latest chemical weapons attack on his own people.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Moscow for talks after a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Italy called on Russia to promote a “real and genuine” political process in Syria and to use its influence to end the country’s bloody six-year civil war.
However Russian President Vladimir Putin showed little inclination to respond to the US initiative, saying he was well aware of planned “provocations” to blame Syria’s government for using chemical weapons.
“It reminds me of the events in 2003 when US envoys to the Security Council were demonstrating what they said were chemical weapons found in Iraq,” he told reporters. “We have seen it all already.”
Following the G7 gathering in the Tuscan city of Lucca, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson insisted there was now an opportunity for Mr Putin to “reset” relations with the West and to join the USled coalition against Islamic State.
“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, or do they want to be part of the solution?” he said.
There was, however, no agreement among the ministers on a call by Mr Johnson for targeted sanctions against senior Russian and Syrian military figures implicated in last week’s chemical weapons attack on the rebelheld town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Mr Tillerson, who is due to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, said it was clear that the days of the Assad regime were numbered and that Moscow needed to decide whose side it was on.
“It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end. But the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to the durability, the stability inside Moscow a unified Syria,” he said.
“We want to create a future for Syria that is stable and secure. Russia can be a part of that future.”
The White House made clear it could mount further strikes against the regime if there was any fresh use of chemical weapons, despite a threat of retaliation from Russia and Iran.