Kremlin does not believe in quick withdrawal of US troops from Syria
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday that Russia is under no illusions concerning the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, and that this is likely to be a long and contradictory process.
According to Ryabkov, the US withdrawal is one of the most pertinent issues. “The signals that are coming in are contradictory – the schedule and, overall, the sequence of steps in this area are up in the air,” the diplomat commented, “We are monitoring this process, on the premise that, in any case, the presence of American contingents in Syrian territory is illegal”.
“We are not entertaining any particular illusions concerning the rate of this process. We think that the process will be long, rather undefined and contradictory,” Ryabkov emphasized, “But we will watch.” The Russian diplomat believes that, the faster the US troops leave Syria, the “safer and more peaceful it will be in this region”.
On December 19, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the American troops from Syria, claiming that the Islamic State terrorist groups in Syria have been defeated, and that they were the only reason the US Armed Forces had been there.
The New York Times recently reported with reference to a White House source that Trump has agreed to give four months for the withdrawal from Syria.