Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said Tuesday that the G7 member-states cannot settle the Syrian crisis nor defeat Daesh without Moscow assistance.
MOSCOW , The United States and the member-states of G7 can neither settle the Syrian crisis nor defeat Daesh terrorist group, outlawed in Russia, without help of Moscow, Pushkov said Tuesday.
"It is clear: [US Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson will express in Moscow the joint position of G7. Though without Russia neither the United States, nor the G7 in general can settle the Syrian crisis, defeat Daesh," Pushkov wrote on Twitter.
He also mentioned the phone conversation between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump, held on Monday, during which the two leaders stressed the importance to explain Russia that its alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad was "no longer in its strategic interest."
"Trump/May seek to persuade us that alliance with Assad does not correspond to our interests. And what can they propose? To give Damascus keys to Nusra [Jabhat Fatah al Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, banned in Russia] and Daesh?" the lawmaker wrote.
Tillerson is expected to come with a two-day visit to Moscow on Tuesday. The talks between Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will come after Thursday's US strikes on Syria's Ash Sha’irat airfield.
On April 6, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, with Trump saying the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib province on April 4, which resulted in the death of over 80 people.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem denied the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident, saying it had never used chemical weapons on either civilians or terrorists operating in the country and will never do so.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on April 5 that the airstrike near Khan Shaykhun by the Syrian air force hit a terrorist warehouse that stored chemical weapons slated for delivery to Iraq, and called on the UN Security Council to launch a proper investigation into the incident.
