The United States still violated international law despite what Moscow has learned a coalition attack last week that did not target Syrian troops, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Monday.
“In any case, this was not about the Syrian government forces, but this does not cancel and does not affect our principled assessment of what happened,” Ryabkov told reporters in explaining the still-active Russia-US deconfliction channel.
On Thursday, the US-led coalition struck near Syria’s At Tanf, where the United States and UK special operations forces have been training militants near the border with Iraq and Jordan.
“Once again the US side grossly violated the norms of international law and implemented the use of force against a sovereign state without a request from the legitimate government of that country,” Ryabkov said.
Russia sees no obstacles to implementing the memorandum on de-escalation zones in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister said.
“I do not see any problems with the implementation of the memorandum signed in Astana, except for a few ideological positions of our US colleagues, who I understand are hostile to Iran’s status as a guarantor of the implementation of this memorandum,” Ryabkov told reporters.
Acknowledging the complexity of the situation in Syria, the Russian diplomat noted that “this is not a sign that the document is put into question or requires revision.”
Source: Sputnik