Tensions escalate between U.S. and Russia over Syria

WASHINGTON — After President Donald Trump’s election victory, the United States and Russia appeared headed toward their smoothest ties in decades. Not anymore.

The former Cold War adversaries are once again spiraling into confrontation, punctuated by a U.S. attack on a military base controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russia’s client. No longer optimistic about a “reset” in relations, the U.S. and Russia openly bashed each other Friday, trading caustic accusations about who violated international law.

“That’s it. The last remaining election fog has lifted,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Facebook on Friday, declaring U.S.Russian relations “completely ruined.” He said Washington came dangerously close to “a military clash” with nucleararmed Moscow by firing 59 cruise missiles on the Shayrat air base. Mr. Trump said Mr. Assad’s forces launched a gruesome chemical weapons attack from the site earlier in the week.

Mr. Trump’s intervention, designed to punish Mr. Assad, was the clearest demonstration of his willingness to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin — and in a way no American leader has in a long time.

Mr. Trump’s praise for Mr. Putin, questionable assertions about Russia’s military activity in Ukraine and Syria, and insistence on a new relationship with Moscow had generated the perception that the billionaire businessman wouldn’t cross the former KGB agent. It’s a perception that gained added currency as various U.S. investigations gained steam into possible collusion on election meddling between Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian intelligence.

Now the question is if Mr. Putin will feel compelled to prove he can’t be crossed with impunity.

Hours after the airstrikes, Russia said it was severing a hotline the two countries have used since 2015 to ensure their aircraft don’t accidentally clash in Syria’s crowded skies. By midday Friday, the U.S. insisted that Russia would keep the “deconfliction” channel open. Russia then insisted the line would be suspended midnight Saturday in Moscow.

But Mr. Trump’s administration shot back, as senior U.S. military officials said they were investigating whether Russia was complicit in the Syrian military’s use of a sarin-like nerve gas, possibly by providing drone surveillance and helping Mr. Assad’s forces try to cover up the attack. At the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley mocked Moscow for failing to rid Syria of chemical weapons under a 2013 deal.

“It could be that the Assad regime is playing the Russians for fools,” Ms. Haley said.

A key test of whether the U.S.-Russia relationship can be salvaged comes next week when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson becomes the first Trump Cabinet member to visit Russia. Mr. Tillerson may get an audience with Mr. Putin himself.