Putin suspends cooperation with US, calls US strikes on Syria an ‘illegal act of aggression’

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a deal to avoid mid-air clashes with American fighter jets over the war-torn country after US airstrikes on Syria. He said these missile strikes has broken the international law and it is an a ‘illegal act of aggression’.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that. “We assess such actions of the US side as a gross violations of the memorandum on incident prevention and ensuring security in operations in the Syrian airspace signed in 2015. The Russian Defense Ministry is suspending cooperation with the Pentagon within the framework of this memorandum,” he said in a statement.

Putin has warned of grave damage to relations between Washington and Moscow after 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from navy ships in the Mediterranean at the Shayrat airfield at 3:40 am (0040 GMT), killing six, injuring many more and destroying nine Syrian air force planes.

The attack was supported by the U.S. allies, including Britain, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey while Russia considered it an “aggression against a sovereign state” and that it would inflict “considerable damage” on the U.S.-Russia ties.

Army officers in Syria described the attack as an act of ‘blatant aggression’, saying it had made the US ‘a partner’ of ISIS, the ex-Nusra Front and other ‘terrorist organisations’.

Japan and Russia have called for the UN Security Council’s emergency meeting to discuss the U.S. missile strike, calling it a “gross… violation of international law.”