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Sputnik / Grigoriy Sisoev
09:11
20.04.2018(updated 10:08 20.04.2018)Get short URL
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave his thoughts on the recent alleged chemical
weapons attack in Syria, the US strikes against this Arab country, the Skripal
case, the upcoming Trump-Kim Jong-un talks and Russia-US ties in an interview
Director General of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Dmitry
Kiselev.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald
Trump will never allow tensions between their nations to turn
into an armed conflict, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"Speaking
about the risk of a military confrontation, I feel absolutely
confident to assume that the militaries will not allow this, and
of course neither will President Putin or President Trump. They are
leaders, after all, elected by their people and responsible
for their peace," he said.
Russian
Foreign Minister also noted during the interview that Russia had cautioned
the US-led coalition that crossing certain "red lines" on the
ground in Syria would prompt retaliation.
Russia’s
General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said ahead of US, UK and French
missile strikes on Syria last week that Russian military would target the
missiles and their launch sites if its personnel came under attack.
"This
was said very clearly and unambiguously," Lavrov said. "Afterwards
there were contacts at the level of military leaderships and
generals, between our representatives and the US coalition command. They
were notified of our ‘red lines,’ including geographical ‘red lines’
on the ground. And, as a result, these ‘red lines’ were not
crossed."
Sergey
Lavrov also said that Russian military will soon provide evidence that Syrian
anti-missile systems intercepted missiles launched by the United States,
the United Kingdom and France.
"Our
General Staff has a very clear picture, we have been monitoring [the attacks]
live, and statistics, which our military provided. We are ready to take
responsibility for that. If someone argues that all 105 missiles reached
their targets, then show your statistics. Our evidence, our claims,
calculations are at least not groundless and will be soon provided
by our military," Lavrov said.
Sergey
Lavrov also noted that Russia is no longer bound by a moral duty not
to supply Damascus with S-300 air defense missile systems after the
last week’s strikes.
"We
no longer have any moral obligations [in this regard]," Lavrov said.
"We promised not to do it around a decade ago at the
request of our partners, and we took into consideration their
argument that this would destabilize the situation, despite this [S-300]
being a purely defensive system. We heeded their call. But now we have no such
moral obligation."
On
April 14, the United States, France and the United Kingdom carried out a
missile attack on a number of targets in Syria in response
to an alleged chemical attack in Douma that reportedly took place
on April 7. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a total
of 103 cruise missiles were launched by the United States and its
allies, 71 of which were intercepted by Syria’s air defenses.
During
the interview, Lavrov noted that Russia will respond "with dignity"
to the anti-Moscow actions taken by Washington."
I
am convinced that we need to respond with dignity. We cannot
but respond to the seizure of our property, expulsion
of diplomats – otherwise we will show the lack of self-respect. But
we are not going to resort to some sort of insults, squabbles or
rudeness – it is not the style of our president at all," Lavrov
said.
Speaking
about the recent incident in Syrian city of Douma, Lavrov said
that Russia has strong evidence proving the UK involvement in staging a
chemical attack in the city.
On
Wednesday, Hasan Diab, the Syrian boy who was documented in a video
by non-governmental organization White Helmets about the alleged
chemical weapons attack in Douma, told the Russian Rossiya 24 TV channel
about the details of the footage. The boy said that he was in a
basement in Douma with his mother when someone shouted to go
to the hospital. When they came, somebody grabbed him, poured water
on him and put him on a bed with other people in order
to shoot a video. Diab's father told the news channel that his son received
sweets and rice for his participation in the filming process. The man
added that there was no chemical attack in the city.
Asked
whether Russia has evidence that London was linked to the incident
in Douma, Lavrov said that there were a number of facts proving that.
"In
fact, there is enough evidence. First of all, this footage… was a main
pretext for the feverish attack carried out by the United States, the
United Kingdom and France, which stroke alleged plants producing chemical
weapons and depots [with such weapons]," Lavrov said.
The
minister pointed out that the footage was provided by the White
Helmets, which is operating only at the territories controlled
by militants including the Jabhat Fatah al Sham terror group, outlawed
in Russia.
"They
were linked to plotting the same provocation in Khan Sheikhoun a year
ago and it is not a secret that they are financed by the United Kingdom
and also the United States as well as a number of other Western
states," Lavrov added.
Moscow
is working to ensure that the Organisation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding mission, established to probe
the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s city of Douma, takes place,
Russian Foreign Minister also said.
"We
are working to ensure that this mission takes place," Lavrov said.
"I
really hope that professionalism will prevail. We were ready to have a
professional conversation with the OPCW and all our Western colleagues
from the very beginning. I mentioned that at the early stage
of the current confrontation on chemical grounds, both the French and
the US side wondered whether they could send their experts together
with ours to see, along with the OPCW experts, what happened
there. Well, when we said that we were ready, and the Syrian government would
be ready to support [the initiative], instead of implementing this
agreement, strikes were conducted," he added.
"So
we will see. We expect honesty, of course, from experts — both
in the case of Syria and in the case of Salisbury, where
the investigation also continues," Lavrov said.
Russian
foreign Minister also spoke on the case on the alleged poisoning
of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter
Yulia. He said that the A234 nerve agent, referred by the Western
countries as "Novichok," was in the US arsenal, it is easy
to manufacture this toxic substance.
The
minister recalled that one of the nerve agent's developers, Vil
Mirzayanov, had immigrated to the United States where he had published the
substance’s formula.
"This
substance was patented, was in the US arsenal and was used by various
institutions of biological and chemical troops of the United States.
And it is easy to produce it," Lavrov said.
In
early March, the United Kingdom accused Russia of being involved
in the attack on former Russian double agent Skripal and his daughter
Yulia with the A234 nerve agent in the UK city of Salisbury.
Over 25 countries, including Belgium, expelled Russian diplomats
in solidarity with the United Kingdom. Russia has denied having any
role in the poisoning, pointing to the lack of evidence provided
by London to substantiate its accusations.
Russia
would have not swapped Sergei Skripal in a spy exchange in 2010 if
the authorities wanted to get a revenge on him for his misdeeds,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.
"If
someone in Russia… wanted to have a revenge on him and
to get rid of him, then why would we have exchanged him for our
spies [in 2010]," Lavrov said.
"He
was sentenced to prison and had been serving his sentence for four
years already, if I'm not mistaken. And then the exchange took place
for what we call 'Chapman group'… after that he was released and
moved to his new homeland, where he was enjoying his life," Lavrov
noted.
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