Itar-Tass
June 14, 2013
US support for Syria opposition may lead to direct military interference
MOSCOW: Supplies of arms from the United States for the Syrian opposition are unlikely to lead to overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime, State Duma International Affairs Committee head Alexei Pushkov told Itar-Tass on Friday.
Assad has support of a considerable part, if not most, of the Syrian population. It is his substantial reserve. Assad’s army shows a high degree of firmness. With the enlargement of supplies of arms to the rebels alone, the United State will not radically change the balance of forces, Pushkov believes.
There is a question in this connection – what further steps the United States will take. “I think the United State will go the way of escalation. Now they arm rebels, then they will come to some form of direct armed interference,” he said. Air missile strikes and direct military interference are not ruled out, he noted.
Earlier Pushkov said the United States had fabricated the information about the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“The information about Assad’s use of chemical weapons is fabricated ibid where the lie about mass destruction weapons of Hussein was fabricated. Obama goes the way of George Bush,” the legislator wrote on his Twitter blog.
On Thursday, U.S. Deputy Presidential National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, who is in charge of strategic communications affairs, stated the U.S. administration came to the conclusion that Syrian authorities had used chemical weapons against opposition forces and thus violated the international law. In this connection, Washington decided to revise its former position and to begin to render military aid to Syrian opposition forces. According to Rhodes, President Barack Obama has decided to provide more support for the opposition, including in light of the conclusions about the use of chemical weapons by Syrian authorities. The aid will be provided directly for the so-called Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, Rhodes said. It includes military support, he confirmed.
—————————————————————————-
Interfax
June 14, 2013
U.S., British, French experts fail to convince Russia that Syria govt used chemical weapons – ministry
MOSCOW: U.S., British and French experts have failed to produce solid proof that the Syrian authorities used chemical weapons, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich told briefing on Friday.
“We had a series of consultations on these issues at the expert level with representatives of the United States, as well as the United Kingdom and France. One should say that the references that our partners gave us about alleged instances of using chemical weapons by Syrian troops were not substantiated by convincing facts,” Lukashevich said.
————————————————————————–
Russian Information Agency Novosti
June 12, 2013
Kremlin Plays Down US Report on Chemical Weapons in Syria
MOSCOW: Russia is not convinced by a US report on the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces against rebels, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Friday.
“The Americans have tried to provide us with information on the use by the [Syrian President Bashar Assad] regime of chemical weapons, but I will be frank: The report does not seem convincing to us,” Ushakov said.
The Kremlin aide suggested Washington was trying to play up the fact that it had provided Moscow with the information. “Of course, the essence of this information has not been revealed, but I repeat, it is not convincing,” Ushakov said.
The White House said on Thursday it now believes with “high confidence” that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons repeatedly during the two-year conflict there, and vowed to boost US aid to the armed opposition fighting to remove Assad from power.
Alexei Pushkov, head of Russia’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, dismissed the US report on Syrian chemical weapon use as “a fabrication” earlier on Friday.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he welcomed the “clear US statement” and urged the Syrian regime to grant access to United Nations inspectors to investigate all the reports of chemical weapons use in the country – something the government has so far refused to do.
…
Source