The United States has denounced Russia’s policy of aiding the Syrian regime as “morally bankrupt” after a plane intercepted by Turkey was said to have been caught carrying suspect cargo.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington had been given “a pretty comprehensive accounting from the Turkish side of precisely what they found.”
She refused to disclose to reporters what exactly had been in the cargo, but said “we have no doubt that this was serious military equipment.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, however, that the SyrianAir plane intercepted by Turkey on a flight from Moscow to Damascus was carrying a cargo of dual-purpose radar equipment, and insisted Russia did not violate any laws.
“This cargo is electrical technical equipment for radar stations, this is dual-purpose equipment, but is not forbidden by any international conventions,” Lavrov said.
Nuland acknowledged yesterday, that Russia had not violated any embargo on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, but said “the policy’s still morally bankrupt.”
“Everybody else on the Security Council is doing what it can unilaterally to ensure that the Assad regime is not getting support from the outside,” she said.
“We have been saying for almost a year now, that no responsible country ought to be aiding and abetting the war machine of the Assad regime.”