Russia: Trump opponents can block US Syria pullout

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

Opponents can obstruct the U.S. president from implementing his decision to withdraw troops from Syria, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

Last week, Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that the U.S. would withdraw its troops from Syria, following a phone call with Erdogan in which the two leaders agreed on the need for more effective coordination over the civil war-torn country.

The news was met coldly by some U.S. allies as they were not briefed on the plan.

Speaking to state-run RIA news agency on the issue, Ryabkov said "not all of the U.S. allies agreed with this decision" and that it provoked "a storm of feedbacks".

"This situation can be used by the opponents to step on the brakes," he said.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin paralleled the remarks, saying the announcement came every year, but the U.S. troops were still in the country.

Commenting on the prolongation of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Ryabkov said the U.S. first must prove that the re-equipment of some missile launchers do not violate its terms.

Depending on that, Russia would be ready to negotiate the treaty renewal, he said.

STARTs are a series of the bilateral treaties between the U.S. and the USSR, which is considered to be one of the pillars of the international arm control. Under the terms of agreement, Russia and the U.S. considerably reduced their nuclear arsenals.

The New START, the latest of the series, expires in 2021. Usually it takes several years to accord a new agreement, but the current tension between the two countries have been blocking the talks.

On the U.S. intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Ryabkov said Moscow hadn't received an official notice from Washington on this point.

The treaty, signed in 1987 by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was largely designed to stave off the prospects of nuclear war in Europe.

On Oct. 21, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the treaty.