MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has lambasted the presence of U.S. military forces in Syria, stressing that the troops have been deployed neither on the basis of a mandate from the United Nations Security Council nor at an official request from the Damascus government.

“The U.S. presence on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, and in the southern al-Tanf region is not legitimate. It has neither been authorized by the UN Security Council, nor has been demanded by Syrian authorities,” Bogdanov said at the opening of the 11th edition of the Middle East Conference of the Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum Valdai Discussion Club.

The senior Russian diplomat then questioned the Americans’ strategy in Syria.

“If the U.S. side’s claims that the sole purpose of their presence in Syria is to fight terrorism, then I would like to know how longer such a campaign would continue and what the tangible outcome is,” Bogdanov said.

He underlined the strategic importance of areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river to Syria’s economy, saying, “There are food crops and crude oil there. If the Damascus government were in control of the territory, the socioeconomic situation in the country would be much better.”

 

‘West Repeating Syria 

Scenario in Russia’

 

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad said the same campaign of lies and hypocrisy once launched by the West against Syria is currently being waged against Russia as Washington seeks escalation of tensions by hyping a long-claimed Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mikdad made the remarks in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in the capital Moscow on Monday, during which the two diplomats exchanged views on the latest developments in Europe and West Asia.

“The campaign of hypocrisy, lies and deception waged by the West is the same as the campaign it launched against Syria,” Mikdad was quoted as saying by Syria’s official news agency, SANA. “Western countries encourage Ukraine to launch attacks on Russia, supply it with weapons, establish bases, violate international agreements on non-proliferation, continue to work on expanding NATO, and threaten the Russian Federation and other countries in the world.”

The top Syrian diplomat underlined Damascus’s support for all the efforts made by Moscow to overcome the crises that the West is trying to create with regard to Ukraine, saying that those who practice misinformation, media propaganda and media terrorism against Syria are the ones doing the same thing against the Russian Federation.

Washington has over the past month kept accusing Moscow of planning to attack Ukraine by stationing as many as 190,000 troops on and around Ukraine’s borders. Russia has rejected the allegations, saying the military build-up is defensive in nature.