NEW YORK // Donald Trump’s most senior diplomat on Tuesday told Russia it must choose between aligning itself with the US and its partners or embracing the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, Iran and Hizbollah.
Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, delivered his stark choice ahead of talks on Wednesday in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
His visit – the first by a member of Mr Trump's cabinet – marks a test of whether the new administration can capitalise on a missile attack on a Syrian airbase last week to devise a strategy to end the six year-long Syrian war.
Russia remains Mr Al Assad’s most important international backer but Mr Tillerson made it clear that Moscow risked finding itself on the wrong side of history.
“Russia has really aligned itself with the Assad regime, the Iranians, and Hizbollah,” he said. “Is that a long-term alliance that serves Russia’s interest, or would Russia prefer to realign with the United States, with other Western countries and Middle East countries who are seeking to resolve the Syrian crisis?”
Iranian forces were first identified helping Mr Al Assad put down protests soon after they began in 2011. Since then, members of the Quds force have taken on training and advisory roles as well as fighting alongside their Shiite allies Hizbollah.
Mr Tillerson was speaking in Lucca, Italy, after G7 foreign ministers rejected a call by Britain to impose further sanctions against Russia for the sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed 87 people.
His Moscow visit was expected to be difficult even before Mr Trump’s retaliatory cruise missile strikes. US agencies are investigating Russia’s alleged role in trying to influence last year’s US election, complicating efforts to find common ground in tackling ISIL.
Russia has already said it would bolster Syrian air defences and suspend lines of communication with the US designed to avoid direct confrontations in the skies over the country.
The two powers traded further jabs on Tuesday.
Minutes after Mr Tillerson touched down in Moscow, the White House announced that Mr Trump had approved Montenegro’s accession to Nato. Russia has opposed any Nato expansion and is particularly sensitive when it comes to countries it views as within its sphere of influence.
For his part, Vladimir Putin claimed the US was planning to fabricate fresh gas attacks as a pretext for more missile strikes.
“We have information that a similar provocation is being prepared ... in other parts of Syria including in the southern Damascus suburbs where they are planning to again plant some substance and accuse the Syrian authorities of using [chemical weapons],” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry on Tuesday said rebel forces in Syria had killed two Russian soldiers who were acting as military instructors to Syrian government troops.
“Russian professional servicemen who were in a unit of Syrian forces as instructors ... came under a mortar attack from a group of rebel fighters,” the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Interfax news agency.
They bring Russia’s official death toll in the country to 29.
In a sign of intense diplomatic activity, Moscow announced it would also be hosting the foreign ministers of Iran and Syria for a three-way meeting on Friday.
Mr Tillerson is not scheduled to meet the Russian president. Instead he is expected to follow normal diplomatic protocol in meeting Mr Lavrov.
The US secretary of state said the Khan Sheikhoun attack showed Moscow had failed in its role under the terms of an earlier UN agreement to guarantee that Syria remained free from chemical weapons.
“It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously or Russia has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn’t much matter to the dead. We can’t let this happen again,” he said.
His words demonstrate how American thinking has changed both on Russia and broader foreign policy questions.
Mr Trump came to power as a fan of Mr Putin. His selection for secretary of state suggested a new detente. Mr Tillerson rose to prominence at Exxon-Mobil for successfully representing the company in Russia and is a friend of Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, the state oil company, and a close ally of Mr Putin.
But White House officials say Mr Trump was moved by images of dead children in Khan Sheikhoun.
The result appears to be a cooler view of Russia and a bolder interventionist stance than many analysts expected from the billionaire businessman’s campaign rhetoric.
That still leaves questions about how hard the US is working to remove Mr Al Assad from power. Mr Tillerson last week suggested diplomatic efforts had begun to pursue regime change, but at other times he has said it is a matter for the people of Syria. He said the reign of the Assad family appeared to be coming to an end.
“I think it is clear that we see no further role for the Assad regime longer-term given that they have effectively given up their legitimacy with these type of attacks,” he said before flying to Moscow.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
