The US-along with France and the UK-had sought to pass a resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and calling for a full probe into last week's attack only to have it vetoed by Russian Federation during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, the Hill reports.
The comments came after a tense meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Trump ordered a cruise-missile strike Thursday on a Syrian airbase where the USA determined the sarin gas attack had been launched and where the Russians had also stationed forces. Though President Donald Trump has spoken with Putin by phone, the meeting was believed to be the first between Putin and a top member of Trump's administration since the new American president took office in January. You were there, most of you were there and it was quite an interesting period of time, ' Trump said. Tillerson also told Lavrov that better relations with the US require Russian Federation stop its support for Assad.
It was a guessing game of whether or not Putin would see Tillerson, but a spokesperson for the Kremlin confirmed the two had met during the secretary of state's high profile visit to Russian Federation, his first trip to the country as secretary of state, CBS2's Andrea Grymes reported.
Tillerson's official itinerary in Moscow started with the meeting with Lavrov, in an ornate hall in a foreign ministry-owned residence. The Syrian government has denied responsibility for the attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested earlier this week that the attack was a "false flag" created to frame Assad.
On the eve of the talks, far from trying to calm tempers, both sides escalated their rhetoric as the United States tried to prise Moscow and Damascus apart.
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The US now assesses that Syria has re-established a unit of personnel associated with chemical weapons that existed before the 2013 agreement in which the Syrian government pledged to give up its weapons inventory.
The Kremlin leader again slammed the USA missile strike and angrily rejected the allegation that Assad's forces were behind the suspected chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun that left 87 civilians dead including children. He said the Syrian military had carried out an airstrike on a depot where terrorists stored chemical weapons. There isn't any. But there was a violation of global law. "That is an obvious fact", Putin told Mir. Putin had even honored Tillerson with a friendship award.
Speaking at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the capital Moscow, Tillerson said Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria has used chemical weapons more than 50 times.
The Syrian government denied possession of chemical weapons, while the Russian Defense Ministry accused Syrian rebels of producing toxic agents in a depot which exploded under a strike by Syrian warplanes and caused the contamination. I have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing. But their disagreements on who was responsible for the strike, and Assad's future, were on full display.
China, which has vetoed six resolutions on Syria since the civil war began, abstained from Wednesday's United Nations vote, along with Ethiopia and Kazakhstan.
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