A Kremlin spokesman challenged President Donald Trump’s Twitter assertions that Russia should “get ready” for a missile attack, claiming during remarks Thursday that he would only respond to “serious” strategic challenges.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”:
“We do not participate in Twitter diplomacy,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agency Interfax, as reported by Al Jazeera.
“We support serious approaches,” Peskov said. “We continue to believe that it is important not to take steps that could harm an already fragile situation.”
Russian officials did not reply to Trump on Twitter. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not have a Twitter account, according to the Los Angeles Times. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova did issue a response, however.
“Smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not [Syria’s] lawful government, which has spent several years fighting against international terrorism on its territory,” Zakharova said.
Al Jazeera reported:
Peskov said his country, which has been involved in the Syrian conflict since 2015 and an ally to President Bashar al-Assad, is convinced that the allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta’s city of Douma is false and cannot be used as a pretext to undertake any military steps against Syria.
The Trump administration is working with allies, including the U.K., to agree on the best action to take in the wake of the chemical weapons attack.
“The chemical weapons attack that took place on Saturday in Douma in Syria was a shocking and barbaric act,” British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. “All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible.”
May has ordered British submarines to move within missile striking distance to Syria.
As Breitbart News reported, “Trump also blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for failing to enforce the ‘red line’ on Syria’s chemical weapons that he announced in 2012.”
“If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” Trump tweeted:
“Last spring, President Trump responded to a chemical weapons attack on civilians by Syria by attacking a Syrian air force base with nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles,” Breitbart News reported. “He suggested that a similar response would be necessary if the regime persisted in its use of chemical weapons.”
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