All news

Russian diplomat: Impossible to imagine Russian, American blood spilt in Syria

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman says she cannot even imagine that either Russian or American blood could be spilt in Syria

LONDON, April 12. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova cannot even imagine that either Russian or American blood could be spilt in Syria, she said in an interview with Sky News on Thursday.

When asked whether the American blood will be spilt in case Russian lives are lost, Russian blood is spilt, Zakharova said, "I do not really want to even think about this because you know, I just want to remind you, myself and everybody who are watching this interview that we are living in 2018. We have all sorts of communication, including Twitter, and we can resolve all the questions like that by picking up the phone, just sending messages."

"I think that this is the case which should be resolved through the communication, but not through force," she said.

Another question was about Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin’s words in an interview with the Lebanese television channel Al-Manar that Moscow retains the right to shoot down missiles in case of US aggression against Syria. Zakharova answered that the diplomat was speaking about protection of Russians in Syria.

"I want to stress one more time and that was an idea of Lebanon’s ambassador that Russia will protect its people on the ground," she said. "This is obvious and this is a task for every country in the world to protect its people on the ground."

Russian people and Russian soldiers are there "not for conquering Syrian people, but to protect Syrian people," Zakharova said. "They came to Syria upon the proposal and invitation of Syrian people. You … can go to Syria, you can see with your own eyes how Syrian people really appreciate Russian presence on the ground. So Russia will protect its own people."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that Russia should get ready for a missile attack on Syria, claiming the missiles will be "nice and new and smart". In his next tweet, he wrote that relations between the United States and Russia are currently worse than they have ever been and that the current arms race needs to be stopped.