As relations between the U.S. and Russia strained after the recent deadly chemical gas attack in Syria, a Russian lawmaker said Moscow will not fight Washington’s troops in Syria, Sputnik reported Monday. In retaliation to the deadly attack, President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes on a Syrian government-controlled air base Thursday — a move that upset Russia.
Victor Ozerov, the head of the Russian Federation Council's defense committee, told Sputnik the Russian Aerospace Forces deployed in Syria are to support President Bashar Assad regime’s anti-terrorism efforts and not engage in military conflict with the U.S.
"Russia is not going there to conduct armed activity with the US, our task there is to support the Syrian armed forces in the fight against terrorism," Ozerov told the Russian news agency, adding, "we have a mandate to fulfill this very task."
Ozerov also maintained that the deployment of Russia’s Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate to the Mediterranean Sea was not connected to the U.S. missile strikes on the Syrian government’s Shayrat air base.
"You cannot deploy such a ship in one day. This rotation is planned; the Admiral Grigorovich escorted the Admiral Kuznetsov [aircraft carrier], and is now back," Ozerov said. "Admiral Grigorovich is quite an effective ship; we have already attacked militants from its deck. Thus, this is not so much about the moral support for the Syrian armed forces in the fight against terrorists, as it is about fire cover."
More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/no-us-russia-war-moscow-wont-engage-military-conflict-washington-russian-lawmaker-2523227There's not enough salt in the world for the last two paragraphs I excerpted.
