Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country had information that there were plans to fake chemical-weapons attacks in Syria, in the same way that Washington, under the Bush Administration, received its legitimacy to attack in Iraq in 2003. President Putin, in a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Sergeio Mattarella, said that Moscow would not tolerate Western criticism of its role in Syria, but hoped that attitude would eventually soften.
“I’ve said that this (U.S. strike on Syria) reminds me strongly of events in Iraq in 2003, when U.S. representatives in the (United Nations) Security Council showed alleged chemical weapons found in Iraq. A military campaign was launched in Iraq after this and it resulted in the destruction of the country, in growth of the terrorist threat and the emergence of Islamic State on the international arena.” / “Why is this happening? Everyone wants to repair relations with the Western community following the situation – when thanks to the former U.S administration – many European countries demonstrated some kind of anti-Trump position during the election campaign. It’s a very good platform for consolidation – Syria, Russia, here is a common enemy. Great, we are ready to demonstrate patience, because we hope this will lead to some kind of positive trend of cooperation,” said Putin.
Russia has defended the Syrian government against Western allegations it was behind the chemical attack in Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib, stressing there is no evidence to underpin such allegations. President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would be urgently asking the global chemical weapons watchdog — the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — to investigate the incident.