Russia suspends Air Safety deal with US, could lead to military conflict

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Russia on Friday condemned the U.S. missile strike against Syrian government forces late Thursday, and said it was pulling out of an agreement to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian aircraft operating over Syria. The strike, which the Trump administration authorized in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed scores of civilians this week, creates the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia, which has forces on the ground and advanced air-defense systems capable of shooting down U.S. aircraft and missiles.

A United Nations mission in 2014 confirmed that Assad’s chemical arsenal had been eliminated.“Syria does not have chemical arms stockpiles,” Peskov said.

Peskov had told the Associated Press on Thursday that Russia’s support for Assad was not unconditional, but insisted that Russia wants to see a full investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria before the United Nations takes any action. Putin carefully orchestrated a peace process that brought together Turkey and Iran — regional powers that have backed opposing sides in the civil war. At the same time, the chemical weapons attack suggests that Assad and his Iranian allies had no intention of being party to a power-sharing agreement, suggesting that Putin’s deal is all but dead.

Source - WP - Russia-condemns-us-missile-strike-on-syria

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To be continued ...