Putin calls Kerry a liar on Syria

[Catherina]

25. More of the quote

US Congress speaker refuses to meet Russian delegation

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“We believe that at the very least we should wait for the results of the UN inspection commission in Syria,” President Vladimir Putin said in an interview to the Associated Press and Russian state TV Channel 1.

Later, Putin hammered the US secretary of state, saying that John Kerry lied to the American Congress by claiming there are no Al-Qaeda militants fighting in Syria and that an assault against President Bashar Assad’s forces would not stir terrorist activities there.

“They lie, plainly. I watched the Congressional debate. A congressman asked Mr. Kerry ‘Is there any Al-Qaeda (in Syria)? There are reports they have been growing stronger.’ (Kerry) replied, ‘No. I say with all responsibility: there is no (Al-Qaeda) there,’” Putin said.

He explained that the most active terrorist organization in Syria, the so-called Al-Nusra Front, pledges allegiance to Al-Qaeda and that the US is well aware of that.

“Well, (Kerry) is lying. And he knows that he’s lying. This is sad,” Putin remarked.

http://rt.com/news/congress-speaker-russian-mp-435/

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Associated Press: Thank you very much for inviting us to your house and finding time to answer a few questions for our large audience.

A G20 summit will take place this week. This will be very interesting. I would like to start with Syria. President Obama said he would wait for Congress to approve an operation in Syria. What do you think about the alleged use of chemical weapons there? And what do you think needs to be done in this respect?

Vladimir Putin: We can’t say for sure what happened. We think we should at least wait for the UN inspectors to give their report. We don’t have any evidence showing that it was the regular army of the Syrian government that used those chemicals. We don’t even know at this point if those were chemical weapons or just some hazardous chemicals). Besides, as I said elsewhere, we think it would be totally absurd for the regular government forces to use banned chemicals weapons in a situation where they have encircled the so-called ‘rebels’ in certain areas and basically are about to finish them off. They are fully aware of the fact that such a step would mean sanctions, including even the use of military force. This is just absurd. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s the first point.

Second, we think that if someone has evidence proving that chemical weapons have been used and that it was the regular army that used them, they should present this evidence to the UN Security Council – to the inspectors and to the Security Council. And this evidence has to be compelling. It should not be just hearsay, just some conversations intercepted by the intelligence service. Even in the US, some experts think the evidence presented by the administration is not compelling. It is possible that the opposition staged a provocation in order to give their patrons an excuse for a military intervention.

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AP: I think John Kerry said that anyone who stands by when these crimes are done will have to answer to history. I’m sure that you and Russia and the US would be included in that. But are you afraid that you may be seen today as standing by a regime that is oppressing and committing crimes? Is there a danger that you will be seen as a protector of this government?

VP: We are not defending the current Syrian government. We are defending other things entirely. We are defending the principles and norms of international law. We are defending the current world order. We are defending the rule that even a possibility of using force must be discussed within the framework of existing world order and international law. This is what we are defending. This is the absolute value. When decisions concerning the use of force are made outside the UN and the Security Council, it raises a concern that such illegal actions could be taken against any country under any pretext.

You’ve just said that Mr. Kerry believes that it was Assad’s forces that used chemical weapons, but the secretary of state in Mr. Bush’s administration was trying to convince the international community that Iraq had chemical weapons in a similar fashion. He even showed us a test tube with white powder in it. The argument turned out to be invalid, but a military operation was conducted based on it – a military operation many in the US now call a mistake. Have we forgotten that? Are we proceeding from the assumption that new mistakes are so easy to avoid? I assure you, it is not so. Everyone remembers what happened, and they take it into account when making their decisions.

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http://rt.com/news/putin-interview-ap-channel1-431/