Hours after President Trump announced on Twitter that the U.S. will be attacking Syria, and warned Russia about partnering with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin has responded by brushing him off.
“We do not participate in Twitter diplomacy,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We support serious approaches. We continue to believe that it is important not to take steps that could harm an already fragile situation.”
In a separate response to Trump’s tweet, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook that Trump’s so-called “smart” missiles should be aimed at terrorists, “not the legitimate government that has been fighting international terrorism for several years on its territory.” She also questioned whether Trump’s eagerness to bomb Syria was an attempt to cover up the true nature of the suspected chemical attacks on Douma, a suburb of Damascus.
Four days after the attack in Douma, the Russian and Syrian governments are blaming it on Syrian opposition forces. Like Trump, those on the ground in Syria are blaming Assad.
Trump followed up his early-morning saber-rattling with an admission that his attempts to improve relations with Russia have failed.
He followed that by placing blame for the poor relations not on himself, or the Kremlin, but on the U.S. media.
