Russia ups ante by freezing communications with US in Syria,

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Friday it was cutting a hotline intended to prevent midair incidents over Syria in response to the U.S. missile attack on a Syrian base. The response that demonstrates Moscow’s readiness to defy Washington and could even put the two nuclear superpowers on a course toward military confrontation. Russia President Vladimir Putin signaled he was ready to risk a clash with the U.S. and abandon hopes for mending ties under President Donald Trump, rather than accept the humiliation of standing by while his ally is bombed.

Russia’s decision to suspend the hotline established after the launch of the Russian air campaign in Syria in September 2015 effectively means that Russian and U.S. planes could fly dangerously close to each other during combat missions, raising the risk of inadvertent or deliberate clashes in the crowded skies over Syria.

Senior U.S. military officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the U.S. and Russia will maintain the hotline. But Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the U.S. was informed that Russia would “suspend its obligations” at midnight Saturday (2100 GMT Friday).

By freezing the information channel between the two potent militaries, Russia is signaling to Washington that it will tolerate no further strikes on Syrian government facilities.

Syria has aging Soviet-built aircraft and air defense missile systems, while Russia has deployed dozens of its cutting edge warplanes and air defense batteries at its base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia. It also has a strategically important naval outpost in the Syrian port of Tartus, which is protected by air defense assets. Further upping the ante, the Russian Defense Ministry said it will now help strengthen Syrian air defenses. U.S. officials accused Russia of failing to ensure Syrian President Bashar Assad’s commitment to a 2013 deal for the destruction of Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal.

The U.S. says that arsenal was tapped for a chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.

Trump cited the chemical attack as justification for the missile strike on a Syrian air base. But the Kremlin insists Assad’s government wasn’t responsible for the attack, saying civilians in Khan Sheikhoun were exposed to toxic agents from a rebel arsenal that was hit by Syrian warplanes.