Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have said a brief hello to the press as they sat beside Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillerson, the foreign ministers of the two countries.
Donald Trump said that it was an “honour” to meet with Putin and that he hoped the meeting would deliver things that would be good for the US, Russia and the wider world.
Trump then thanked the Russian President saying Спасибо, the Russian word for thank you.
Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad issued a stern warning to the US, should Washington act upon statements from last week week promising that Syria would pay a “heavy price” for a chemical attack.
Syria no longer has chemical weapons as the US itself acknowledged in 2014.
This of course has not stopped terrorists from making videos claiming that such an attack has occurred, a stunt that Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed as “propaganda”.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has called America’s bluff in naming two possible locations in northwest Idlib Governorate where a possible chemical weapons false flag attack could occur. She named Saraqib and Ariha as two probable locations where terrorists could stage a false flag attack. Idlib is one of the few places west of the Euphrates where terrorists still occupy and control a considerable amount of Syrian territory.
Zakharova stated,
“Indeed, there is new intel. We believe that this staging, this provocation is being prepared”.
Saudi Crown Price Mohammad Bin Salman is a classic example of the ideological dogma that often clouds the minds of a young man whose ambition exceeds his circumspection, let alone his intelligence. By all accounts Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) is profoundly lacking in both circumspection and intelligence.
Buzzfeed has reported that it got its hands on a classified document outlining US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s ‘new Russia strategy’. There are only two problems.
1. The alleged contents of the document contained no new information above and beyond what Tillerson has stated on many occasions.
2. The document may not exist.
The three points are outlined by Sputnik as follows:
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has condemned the US downing of a Syrian jet in Syria using even stronger language than Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Lavrov stated that the US must coodinate its campaign in Syria with Russia and others while calling on the United States to respect Syrian sovereignty.
The Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is in Moscow where he held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the continuing crisis between Qatar and its neighbours Saudi Arabia and the UAE who have been joined by other Arab states, notably Egypt, in cutting off all ties with the small Gulf state,
The Qatari Foreign Minister who is keenly aware that Russia has normal relations with both Doha and Riyadh told RT,
The Syrian Arab Army has been making strong and swift advances through the deserts of southern Syria near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders and are all ready moving north on Deir ez-Zor, one of the last major terrorist strongholds in Syria.
According to Al-Masdar,
Russia has condemned yesterday’s US attack on a convoy of Syrian Arab Army and allied forces in southern Syria.
Russia criticised the United States for claiming that the Syrians encroached on a de-escalation zone when no such thing happened. In reality, the United States unilaterally decided to name one of it’s zones of occupation in southern Syria as a de-escalation zone without approval of Syria or the Astana group whose responsibility it is to police and oversee the legitimate de-escalation zones in the country.
Facing an orchestrated attempt by various Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia to isolate it, the Kingdom of Qatar has looked for help to Russia.
Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in what is clearly a call for help. Here is how TASS, Russia’s official news agency, reports the call
The parties paid special attention to the rising tensions between Qatar and some other Arab countries,” the statement reads.
