Lavrov on soon withdrawal of US troops from Syria: “We shall see”

At a news conference on April, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has commented on statement of US President Donald Trump on soon withdrawal of the US troops from Syria.

“It is necessary to keep in mind that the United States sent its troops, its special forces, air forces and established a coalition to work in Syria unlawfully, with harsh violations of the NATO Charter that urges to respect sovereignty, territorial integrity of all member states. We have drawn attention to it not once. Our military and diplomats get in contact with the USA periodically, because we are interested in sooner overcoming the conflict, establishing peace, switching to the political process, solving humanitarian issues. In this connection, one must interact with everyone who is in Syria, but the fact that the USA is not on the legal basis there still remains,” the minister announced.

He said Moscow is especially concerned by the fact that contrary to numerous assurances that US only goal in Syria is combating terrorism, in recent months one could see how the USA was gaining a foothold on the eastern ban of the Euphrates, in a significant part of the Syrian territory up to the border with Iraq.

“They settle there not only with the military facilities, they establish governmental bodies there that are loyal to them, that are controlled by them and will be financed by them. This all is done in the context of isolating those areas from the rest part of Syria. They were persuading us that they had no such plans. But they were not convincing. If the US president says that the US troops will be withdrawn from Syria soon, it means that he at least is committed to previous statements that after winning over the ISIS (the Islamic State, banned in Russia), the USA will leave the territory of Syria. We shall see,” the Russian minister concluded.