Russia accuses US of 'de-facto support for terrorism' as Syria rifts widen

Officials in Moscow have accused the United States of “supporting terrorism” and even threatening to sponsor attacks on Russia amid a near total collapse of  diplomatic contact following the breakdown of a ceasefire in Syria earlier this month.

The acrimonious exchange came a day after US officials voiced frustration at Moscow’s refusal to rein in a Syrian government offensive against opposition held districts of Aleppo, warning that continued violence in the country threatened Russian interests.

"We cannot interpret this as anything else apart from the current US administration's de facto support for terrorism," Sergei Ryabkov, a deputy foreign minister, told Russian agencies. 

“These poorly veiled invitations to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia shows the political depths the current US administration has stooped to in its approach to the Middle East and Syria,” Mr Ryabkov said. 

The ceasefire negotiated by John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, right, as almost entirely collapsed.
The ceasefire negotiated by John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, right, as almost entirely collapsed. Credit: KEVIN LAMARQUE/ AFP

John Kirby, a US State Department spokesman said on Wednesday that Russia had an interest in stopping the violence in Syria because extremists could exploit the vacuum there and launch attacks "against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities."

Earlier John Kerry, the US Secretary of state, had threatened to cut off all contact with Russia over Syria unless it halted the Aleppo offensive.

Meanwhile Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned what they called "barbarous" Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes on Aleppo during a phone call on Thursday, the White House said.

Russia and the Syrian government "bear special responsibility for ending the fighting in Syria," the two leaders agreed, strongly condemning the strikes in eastern Aleppo, an area they said is "populated with hundreds of thousands of civilians, half of whom are children."

A series high ranking Russian official echoed Mr Ryabkov’s comments in state-owned media on Thursday.  

"Kirby's words are the clearest admission from the American side that the alleged 'opposition' in the Syrian 'civil war' is a US-controlled terrorist international," Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the ministry of defence, said in a statement. 

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov called the Syrian opposition "a US-run terrorist international."
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov called the Syrian opposition "a US-run terrorist international." Credit: Ivan Sekretarev/AP

Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said Russia would continue its “war on terror,” including in Aleppo, and described Mr Kirby’s statements as clumsy and unhelpful.

He added that Russia remains committed to working with the US to end the violence in Syria.

Both countries have blamed one another for the collapse of a ceasefire deal they jointly brokered earlier this month.

The United States has demanded Russia ground its air force in Syria and particularly over Aleppo,   where it has dropped bunker-busting bombs in support of a government ground offensive to seize the opposition-held eastern side of the city.

Russia says the United States has failed to pressure opposition groups into separating themselves from terrorist groups like Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the al-Qaeda linked group previously known as al-Nusra Front, and has described US calls for a seven-day ceasefire as “unacceptable.”

Aleppo's citadel is seen through the ruins of the city's Farafira district, which pro-government forces captured after days of heavy airstrikes.
Aleppo's citadel is seen through the ruins of the city's Farafira district, which pro-government forces captured after days of heavy airstrikes. Credit: GEORGES OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Syrian regime released video footage of what it said was Aleppo’s ancient Farafra district on Thursday. Government forces claimed to have captured the area on Tuesday, in what would be the first government advance into the old part of the city.

Residents in the east of the city say they are experiencing the worst bombing campaign of the war. More than 350 people have been killed in Syrian and Russian air strikes since the ceasefire collapsed last week.

Rights groups have accused Syrian and Russian forces of deliberately targeting medical facilities, with Amnesty International earlier this year accusing the allies of "wiping out hospitals as part of their military strategy."

 

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