United States Suspends Contact With Russia Over Syria Impasse
WASHINGTON — In a sharp deterioration of relations, the U.S. on Monday suspended diplomatic contacts with Russia over Syria, while Moscow halted cooperation on a joint program for disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
The U.S. move followed a threat last week from Secretary of State John Kerry after new Russian and Syrian attacks on the city of Aleppo. The State Department said Russia had not lived up to the terms of an agreement last month to restore the cease-fire and ensure sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged cities.
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"This is not a decision that was taken lightly," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Russia failed to live up to its own commitments ... and was also either unwilling or unable to ensure Syrian regime adherence to the arrangements to which Moscow agreed."
<img class="img-responsive img_inline" src="http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_40/1241346/150928-obama-putin-shake2-jm-520p_39bf0c664b5b353ac17a57b86c8e6390.nbcnews-fp-360-360.jpg" alt="Image: Obama Holds Bilateral Meeting With Russian President Putin At UN" title="Image: Obama Holds Bilateral Meeting With Russian President P"Rather, Russia and the Syrian regime have chosen to pursue a military course, inconsistent with the Cessation of Hostilities, as demonstrated by their intensified attacks against civilian areas, targeting of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in need, including through the September 19 attack on a humanitarian aid convoy," he said.
This is not surprising. the Russian leadership is not honorable and we know we cannot believe or trust them to work with us in good faith. In this instance I wish we could apply one of Donald Trump's peace tactics and blow them out of the water so to speak.
To bad we didn't listen to Romney.
He understood the threat posed by Russia, Obama wanted to make jokes about it.
Sean - I agree that Romney was right on the money about Russia. Obama thought he was dealing with a leader that was honorable but Putin is KGB and you can't unlearn KGB mindset.