Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. © Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Sputnik
On December 21, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that the U.S. decision to withdraw its troops from Syria is “a step in the right direction.”
However, the Russian minister questioned the seriousness of the U.S. decision, especially that no clear plan for the withdrawal has been presented so far.
“It is necessary to wait for what will happen after this announcement. As I know, there are many questions within the United States about this,” Lavrov said during a joint press conference with his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, in Moscow, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
A day earlier, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin welcomed the U.S. decision. However, he said that Russian didn’t see any signs yet of the withdrawal of U.S. troops and warned from an Afghanistan-like scenario.
“How long has the United States been in Afghanistan? Seventeen years? And almost every year they say they’re pulling out their troops.” Putin added, according to the New York Times.
Russia’s careful stand on the U.S. decision is legitimate as the current Trump administration has a track record of not respecting its own commitments.
