“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States,” Putin wrote in an article for the New York Times titled, A Plea for Caution from Russia.
Putin stated that as a result of Washington’s reliance on “brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us’”, the US is no longer viewed as a model for democracy.
The Russian president denied Western allegations that the Syrian government was behind a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21. Putin said that the foreign-backed militants were behind the controversial chemical attack and that the Western allegations are being used as a pretext for a military intervention.
He once again warned the US against launching a war on Syria, saying that a strike bypassing the UN Security Council would threaten the international body as a whole.
“No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization,” the Russian president said.
Putin also warned that potential US strikes could spread the Syrian conflict, “result in more innocent victims” and unleash a wave of terrorism worldwide.
On September 9, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem said that Damascus welcomes a proposal by Russia for the Syrian chemical weapons to be put under international control.
US President Barack Obama has said that plans for a military strike against Syria could be averted if the Syrian “gesture” regarding the Russian proposal is “real.” Obama said it takes time “to tell whether this offer will succeed.” He has, therefore, asked the US Congress to postpone a vote on the plan for an attack on Syria.
