Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts at a trilateral meeting in Moscow, denounced last week's USA attack on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of worldwide law and warned that any further such action would entail "grave consequences not only for regional but global security".
The newly hardened view of Moscow comes as the president has tried to shake suspicions about the motives behind his campaign calls for warmer relations.
U.S. missile attack on Syrian airbase Targeted attack or accident?
Theresa May has defended Boris Johnson's handling of the Syria crisis, saying he had done an "excellent job" despite criticism of his failure to win backing for further sanctions on Russian Federation. However, Russia did not seem cowed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in Moscow, denounced the USA missile strikes on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of global law. However, Crimea, the return of which to Ukraine was added by Trump's administration as an obligatory condition for the normalization of ties, will never be returned to Ukraine, I believe.
Lavrov said Russia, Iran and Syria have demanded a "thorough, objective and unbiased investigation" under the auspices of the OPCW, insisting it must use "independent experts", including from Moscow. Putin's military backing of Assad has been crucial in keeping the regime in power after six years of civil war.
As one survivor of the chemical attack told me: "Our stories are our weapons - and we must use them now".
In this video, CNN's Jake Tapper looks at President Donald Trump's recent criticism of President Barack Obama's response in 2013 to a chemical weapons attack in Syria.
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The source added that Mohan Babu's son Vishnu Manchu might also be a part of the remake and may get to reprise Prasanna's role. An emotionally uplifting film, Power Paandi is the story of a 64-year-old former stuntman's journey of self-exploration.
Beyond Syria, Russia's alleged meddling in the United States presidential election also hovered over what was the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and any Trump administration Cabinet member. "The world's two foremost nuclear powers can not have this kind of relationship", Tillerson told a Moscow news conference.
The Trump administration recognizes that Russian Federation is the most significant player, with strategic interests in Syria dating back almost five decades.
Even in the case of Syria, both sides are eager to put an end to the brutal conflict but believe that very different, if not opposing, paths should be taken. As the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple congressional committees investigate possible collusion between Russian Federation and Trump's campaign, the president and his aides can now point to his hard-line stance on Syrian President Bashar Assad as evidence he's willing to stand up to Putin.
Can Russia abandon Assad?
Tillerson's challenge this week was to translate Trump's sudden strike on Syria into meaningful diplomacy by outlining the administration's policy - and articulating a strategy to achieve it - all in the space of a few days.
"We're calling (Russia and Iran) out", Haley told "State of the Union" anchor Jake Tapper.
It seems that this back-and-forth decision changing is a characteristic feature of the current United States administration which seems to have no clear understanding of what is going on and what it wants.
Between now and the time when such an agreement is reached, a no-fly zone should be created in Syria, along its borders with Turkey and Jordan, to provide a safe haven for the internally displaced and refugees.
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