I'll help Syria if the U.S. attacks, says Putin in chilling threat to Obama as G20 summit breaks up in acrimony
- - Russian premier has admitted to supplying arms to Syrian tyrant
- - Putin insists the chemical attack was a 'set-up' by government opposition
- - Backs his stance by pointing out that the Pope is against military intervention
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Russia last night issued a chilling threat to assist Syria if the US leads military strikes against its hated regime.
As a summit of world leaders broke up in acrimony, Vladimir Putin declared openly that he is already supplying arms to Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad and vowed to step up support if a planned missile attack goes ahead.
There were gasps as the Russian President made his remarks after being asked how he would react if Barack Obama proceeds with an attack in response to Syria’s used of chemical weapons.
Jovial: There may have been a cull in smiles after Putin admitted to helping arm Syria
Host: Russia's President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he would be prepared to help Syria should Obama push U.S. military intervention
Stance: Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2L) has said military intervention would be 'counter productive' and 'disrupt the world economy'
‘Will we help Syria? We will. And we are already helping, we send arms, we cooperate in the economics sphere,’ Mr Putin declared.
Amid signs any US-led action could be delayed for as long as a fortnight, with President Barack Obama battling to win the approval of Congress, Russia last night sent a fourth warship with ‘unspecified cargo’ to the eastern Mediterranean.
While few observers expect Mr Putin to deploy his forces in the event of a US-led missile strike on Damascus, Mr Putin’s remarks suggest he is determined to prop up Assad’s rule.
He has already suggested he could renew a suspended contract to supply Syria with a sophisticated missile shield.
Despite what the US, the UK and EU countries again said was conclusive evidence Assad was behind a sarin attack that killed almost 1,500 civilians, including 500 children, last month, the Russian leader insisted rebel forces trying to overthrow the Syrian leader had staged the incident.
In Syria, conflict raged today as people were pictured fleeing flames and caused by a bomb hit Binnish town, Idlib province, Syria
Devastation: A video, obtained from the Shaam News Network, showed the devastation and destruction in the immediate aftermath of the bomb
He said it was a ‘provocation by militants expecting aid’ and insisted that military action without the approval of the United Nations Security Council would ‘violate international law’.
He insisted most people in the US, UK and other countries calling for military intervention did not support it - and also pointed out the Pope had made clear the ‘inadmissability’ of such a move.
Last night, Russia issued a 27-page document on the conclusions of the G20 that made no mention of Syria, though the crisis had dominated discussions at St Petersburg.
In an unprecedented act of defiance for any recent international summit, eleven countries, including the US and the UK, issued their own statement demanding a ‘strong international response to the grave violation of the world’s rules and conscience’ by Assad’s regime.
The countries, which also included Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Turkey, said they would ‘support efforts undertaken by the United States and other countries to reinforce the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons’.
Eagle eye: David Cameron watches on as Obama and Putin embrace
Mr Cameron, whose failure to win the support of Parliament for British participation on military action was ridiculed by Mr Putin, attacked the ‘dangerous doctrine’ that military action is only legal with United Nations backing.
He said Britain and other Western nations could not ‘contract out our foreign policy, our morality, to the potential of a Russian veto’.
Insisting Mr Obama is no ‘warmonger’, the Prime Minister said world leaders would set an appalling precedent if they failed to respond to the use of chemical weapons.
‘Everyone will pay a price,’ he said.
After more than hours of fruitless talks that went on into the early hours of the morning, Mr Cameron insisted Russia’s claim the Syrian rebels - not Assad’s hated regime -- were responsible for a gas attack killing nearly 1,500 people was ‘miles from the truth’.
The Prime Minister attacked the argument made by countries opposing US-led missile strikes on Damascus that any intervention made without the approval of the UN Security Council would be illegal, even on humanitarian grounds.
‘The argument that did flare up at the dinner last night is a disagreement about whether it’s possible to have legal military engagement outside the UN Security Council,’ he said.
‘Our strong legal advice is that there is a case for humanitarian intervention. There was a strong argument from some that unless there is a Security Council resolution there is no legal basis for action.
‘I think it’s a very dangerous doctrine. If you accept that, you could have a country massacring half its people, a blockage at the UN Security Council, and no-one could act.
‘It was brought home to me last night that quite aside from the Syrian problem we need to make that argument very vigorously with countries like South Africa, Brazil, India and others.
‘One of the frustrations of last night is you have countries - including Security Council permanent members - saying all this must be decided by the UN Security Council, and yet they are the very countries that are blocking any action and have been blocking resolutions for the last two and a half years.’
Mr Cameron said it had been clear that the G20 was ‘never going to reach conclusions about Syria’, adding: ‘The divisions are too great.’
No joke: Actors in costumes arrive at the Peterhof Palace where heads of state met
Attacking Russian intransigence, he said: ‘The Russian position that, as Putin has said, if it is proved it is Assad he will take a different view but he is fairly clear that it is the opposition, is miles away from what I think the truth is and miles away from what lots of us believe.
‘He says to me that he would like to see further evidence of regime culpability and we will go on providing evidence of regime culpability, as will the Americans and others, but I think it will take a lot to change his mind.’
Mr Cameron, whose plan to join US-led military action was scuppered last week when MPs voted against, yesterday offered another £52 million in aid to help the millions who have fled the Assad regime.
He asked President Putin to put pressure on the Syrian regime to agree safe corridors along which aid convoys could pass without coming under attack from either side in its civil war.
Mr Cameron suggested the UN Security Council could be asked to endorse such a plan.
‘I have never heard the Russians argue against humanitarian access. It may well be necessary at some stage to go back to the UN and that will test whether the Russians will support it,’ he said.
‘There’s a case at some stage for writing down all the things that need to happen in terms of access and getting UN support for it. It might be necessary to get a UN resolution.’
Amid growing signs in the US that Mr Obama could struggle to get approval from Congress for his plans, Mr Cameron said he was making a ‘powerful argument... as someone who is trying to extract himself from Middle East entanglements and he is no way seen as a warmonger’.
Last night the US ordered its diplomats to leave neighbouring Lebanon as Congress debates Syria military strikes.
President Obama insisted military action was right even if the public was largely against it, saying US intervention in the Second World War had also been opposed by a majority.
As he left the summit, the US leader said: ‘I’m not drawing an analogy to World War II other than to say that when London was getting bombed, it was profoundly unpopular, both in Congress and around the country to help the British. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do.’
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