The US and Turkey, two of the Syrian President Bashar Assad’s key opponents, have not cheered his visit to Moscow, with the White House slamming it as a “red carpet welcome.” Russian and Syrian leaders were meeting for crisis consultations and planning.
The White House criticized the way the Syrian leader was received, saying it resembled a “red carpet welcome.” In that same statement, the US also accused Assad of using chemical weapons against his own people and questioned Russia’s interests in a political transition of power in Syria.
“We view the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Assad has stressed on multiple occasions in the past that Western claims that his government had used chemical weapons against the Syrian population are “an insult to common sense” and “nonsense.”