US threats to use force against Syria ‘part of ongoing blackmail policy’ – Moscow

Washington’s threats to use force against Syria are part of its ongoing blackmail policy, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday. “This is absolutely the policy of threats and blackmail,” TASS quoted him as saying. The diplomat noted that the Trump administration earlier signaled that should any incident with the use of toxic agents or chlorine be repeated, the US would blame Damascus. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said on Monday that the US, Britain, and France had agreed that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would result in a “much stronger response” compared to previous airstrikes.