RUSSIAN UPDATE: 4.15.17 - No sign Putin seeks to cool friction with US

 

No sign Putin seeks to cool friction with US - http://www.debka.com/article/26009/No-sign-Putin-seeks-to-cool-friction-with-US

 

It is hard to see US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson coming way from the talks he is holding with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow Wednesday, April 12, with a neatly wrapped diplomatic package for cooling the boiling tensions between their governments. President Vladimir Putin seems more than ready to turn up the heat. Tuesday, he claimed he had information (no source cited) of a potential incident similar to the alleged chemical attack in Idlib province, possibly targeting the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Speaking at a joint press conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Moscow, Putin said: "The goal is to discredit the government of Syrian President Assad. We have reports from multiple sources that false flags like this one - and I cannot call it otherwise - are being prepared in other parts of Syria, including the southern suburbs of Damascus. They plan to plant some chemical there and accuse the Syrian government of an attack." 

 

Putin did not say whom he was accusing, but his prediction of another incident sets the scene for more Syrian government chemical attacks very soon, while blaming America and US-backed Syrian rebels for "provocations."

 

US Defense Secretary James Mattis, in contrast, appeared to be trying to pour oil on the churning waters, when he denied at his first news conference Tuesday that he had set any "red lines" and insisted that the Tomahawk missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat air base, which had destroyed some 20 percent of Assad's warplanes, was separate from the main US goal which was to defeat ISIS in Syria. But he also stressed that the Trump administration would not remain passive in the face of more chemical attacks.

 

On his way to Moscow, Tillerson gave Russian an ultimatum "to choose between aligning itself with the US and likeminded countries or embracing Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and the militant group Hezbollah."

 

The Kremlin's riposte greeted him before he landed: Foreign Minister Lavrov invited the Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers to Moscow on Friday. They would arrive on the heels of Secretary Tillerson's departure.  Putin was sticking to his guns and making it clear that he was solidly supported by - and in control of - his allies.

 

Early Wednesday, ahead of the Tillerson-Lavrov interview, President Trump tried belatedly to mute the effect of the ultimatum which left Moscow no option but to ditch Assad or else. "We're not going into Syria," he said. Asked if the United States is going to get involved in Syria, Trump said: "No - only if I see them using gas..."

 

The two powers appear to have maneuvered themselves into a situation which could easily spiral out of their control.  Suffice it for someone in Tehran to decide that this would be a good time to carry out a military operation, even a small one, against US forces in Syria, or hit Israeli or Jordanian forces along Syria's borders with Iraq, Jordan and Israel. Both Trump and Putin would be dragged into action by such events.

 

It is therefore to be expected that Tillerson, who failed to forge a unified front at the G7 foreign ministers' conference in Italy Tuesday, will leave Moscow empty-handed. The military tension in Syria and around its borders will therefore remain high, with US, Russian and the Israeli and Jordanian armies all on a high state of preparedness.

 

Russia either irresponsible or incompetent in failing to rid Assad of WMDs - By Josh Lederman - http://www.timesofisrael.com/tillerson-russia-must-choose-between-iranian-axis-and-us/

 

Secretary of state, now visiting Moscow, says Putin must choose between Iran axis and US

 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued an ultimatum to Russia on Tuesday: Side with the US and likeminded countries on Syria, or embrace Iran, militant group Hezbollah and embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

 

Tillerson, who landed in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon following urgent meetings in Italy with top diplomats, said it was unclear whether Russia had failed to take seriously its obligation to rid Syria of chemical weapons, or had merely been incompetent. But he said the distinction "doesn't much matter to the dead."

 

"Russia has failed to uphold the agreements that have been entered into under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions," Tillerson said. "These agreements stipulated Russia as the guarantor of a Syria free of chemical weapons."

 

Syria's stockpiling and continued use of chemical weapons show that "Russia failed in its responsibility to deliver on this 2013 commitment," he went. "It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously or Russia has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn't much matter to the dead. We cannot let this happen again."

 

"We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian people. Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role," Tillerson added in remarks to reporters. "Or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia's interests longer term."

 

Since the US launched airstrikes against Assad's forces in retaliation for a chemical attack on civilians last week, Trump administration officials have offered mixed messages about whether Washington believes Assad definitely must surrender power - and when. Tillerson said it was clear the US saw no role for Assad in Syria's future, given that he had lost legitimacy.

 

"It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end," he said. "But the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to the durability, the stability inside of a unified Syria," which he said he "hopes" Assad will not be a part of.

 

"That's why we are not presupposing how that occurs," Tillerson added.

 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also told reporters that the G7 ministers agreed that "no future in Syria is possible with Bashar Assad," Ayrault told reporters.

 

He said the message for Russia was: "That's enough now. There must be an end to hypocrisy and a very clear return to the political process."

 

"This is not an aggressive stance towards Russia, rather a hand out-held, with clear intentions," Ayrault said.

 

Tillerson also said the cease-fire talks that Russia and Iran have helped broker in the Kazakh capital, Astana, could generate momentum toward broader talks about a political transition - if the Astana talks succeed in creating a durable cease-fire. The resulting political talks would take place under the auspices of the United Nations process in Geneva.

 

"To date, Astana has not achieved much progress," Tillerson said.

 

Tillerson spoke after a meeting of the "likeminded" countries was hastily arranged on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Seven industrialized economies in Italy, days after the US for the first time launched airstrikes against Assad's forces.

 

A key focus since the chemical attack has been on increasing pressure on Russia, Assad's strongest ally, which has used its own military to keep Assad in power. The US and others have said that Russia bears responsibility for the deaths of civilians at the hands of Assad given Moscow's role in guaranteeing the 2013 deal in which Assad was supposed to have given up his chemical weapons arsenal.

 

The US raised the stakes significantly on Monday when a senior US official said Washington has made a preliminary conclusion that Russia knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack. Yet the US has no proof of Moscow's involvement, said the official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity.

 

That accusation will hang over Tillerson's visit to Moscow, where he plans to meet with Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and possibly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin declined to say whether Putin would meet with Tillerson, in line with its usual practice of not announcing such meetings ahead of time.

 

The United States has sought to minimize expectations for the trip or the likelihood that the US will leave with any concessions from Russia regarding its support for Assad. Instead, the US is hoping to use the visit - the first by a Trump Cabinet official to Russia - to convey its expectations to Moscow and then allow the Russians a period of time to respond.

 

Though intended to punish Assad for a chemical weapons attack, the US strikes last week served to refocus the world's attention on the bloody war in Syria, now in its seventh year. Diplomats gathered in Italy as US officials in Washington floated the possibility of new sanctions on the Syrian and Russian military, plus the threat of additional US military action if Assad's government continues attacking civilians.

 

At Tuesday's meeting in the walled Tuscan city of Lucca, the G-7 countries were joined by diplomats from Muslim-majority nations including Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The inclusion of those countries is important because the U.S. strategy for Syria involves enlisting help from Mideast nations to ensure security and stability in Syria after the Islamic State group is vanquished.