President Vladimir Putin of Russia stated in an interview on Wednesday that evidence presenting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime use of sarin gas against its people is doubtful, and that more conclusive results are needed before even considering the use of force against the Middle Eastern country.
Putin told The Associated Press that it was “ludicrous” that Assad’s regime staged a chemical attack against its own people. He went on to say that "it seems absolutely absurd that the armed forces […] which are on the offensive today and in some areas have encircled the so-called rebels and are finishing them off, that in these conditions they would start using forbidden chemical weapons while realizing quite well that it could serve as a pretext for applying sanctions against them, including the use of force."
He added that the current evidence the US has presented is not enough to proceed with military action, it should be convincing and concrete, rather than “based on some rumors […] obtained by […] through some kind of eavesdropping.” Putin even compared the results of the US investigation in Syria to the false data presented by the Bush administration regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
According to BBC News, Putin has not ruled out his support for the authorization of force from the United Nations (UN) Security Council, if Syria’s use of chemical weapons was proved “beyond doubt”, but has warned the US and its allies against an attack without UN approval.
Photo courtesy of the Kremlin, Wikimedia Commons