Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on March 13 that a new US strike on Syria [Washington threatened to do this on March 12] will have “grave consequences”.
“If a new strike of this kind takes place, the consequences will be very serious,” the minister said, according to the sate-run news agency TASS. “Mrs. Haley should understand that it is one thing to irresponsibly exploit the microphone in the UN Security Council and it is another thing when both the Russian and American militaries have communication channels and it is clearly stated via these channels what can be done and what must not be done.”
“When, against the backdrop of an obvious failure to implement resolution 2401, in as much as it concerns militants and their sponsoring West, new resolutions are put forward under the pretext that it is Russia, Iran and the Syrian government that have failed to provide for the requirements of the previous resolution while Mrs. Haley makes a statement that the US is, of course, a peaceful nation but it may at any time deliver a strike against the forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, as they did a year ago by striking the Shayrat airbase, I simply don’t have any normal terms left to describe all this.”
Lavrov also added that Russia does not seek to increase the number of de-escalation zones in Syria at this strage. However, he added the de-escalation zones will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers in Astana on March 16.
“The most crucial task now is to prevent the continuation of blatant violations of this regime in Eastern Ghouta,” the minister said.