The Russian Foreign Minister started his meeting with the US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Moscow, with a serious warning -- "do not attack the Syrian regime again," CNN reports.
Two diplomats met today in Moscow, and it was expected that the talks would be extremely difficult, especially after relations tightening between the two countries after Trump's attacks on Assad. Tillerson arrived in Russia from Lucca in Italy, where he met with the foreign ministers of G7 countries that have joined the Middle East allies to agree on a unified stance on Syria, which came into the public's focus once again, after the chemical attack that killed 87 people.
Assad's governance is coming to an end
Western countries are blaming Assad for the attack, and Trump retaliated with cruise missiles on the Syrian air base. With that move, he brought his administration in a dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stands firmly with Assad. "We are clear that Assad's rule comes to an end. We hope that the Russian government has come to the conclusion that they are bowing to an unstable partner.
"We are clear that Assad's rule comes to an end. We hope that the Russian government has come to the same conclusion and that they are starting to realize they are bowing to an unstable partner," said Rex Tillerson after a meeting of the G7 and before heading to Moscow.
According to him, Russia has not proved to be successful in the role of respecting an agreement from 2013, in which Assad promised to get rid of his chemical weapons. In these agreements, Russia had a role of guarantor that Syria would dispose of chemical weapons.
We do not know whether Russia believed that these obligations were frivolous or was incompetent, but it does not mean anything to the dead.
We can not let that happen again," Tillerson said.
High Representative of the EU also wants to talk with Lavrov
The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU, Federica Mogherini, will visit Russia next week, which so far has never happened because of tensions with Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis.
The visit is scheduled for April 24, and it will be the last stage of the tour.
Mogherini will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks including "the most pressing foreign policy issues, particularly the conflict in Syria," which was said in a statement from her office. "They will talk about the situation in Libya, the peace process in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and the conflict in the east of Ukraine."
