27.08 Russia Regrets US Decision to 'Cancel' Syria Talks
MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) A senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday Moscow regrets Washingtons decision to "cancel" a bilateral meeting to discuss the crisis in Syria.
CBS News quoted a senior State Department official as saying Tuesday the White House has put off a meeting between Russian and US diplomats scheduled for Wednesday in The Hague.
[Our] partners decision to cancel the Russia-US bilateral meeting to discuss the matter of assembling an international conference on Syria causes regret, Gennady Gatilov said in a tweet.
International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Syrian opposition claimed more than 350 people died after the attack.
The Assad government has denied using chemical weapons, and showed on state TV what it claimed was evidence of rebel groups using such weapons.
The gas attack gave an advantage to those who want to trigger foreign military action against Assads government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Russia has been Syria's most important ally during the civil war that the UN says has claimed at least 100,000 lives since March 2011.
Moscow, along with Beijing, has previously vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions against Assad's government and delivered some weapons to Damascus that it said were supplied under previously agreed deals.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday there is "undeniable" evidence of a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus last week, and condemned the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Assad's regime as a moral obscenity.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday President Barack Obama had told him to "prepare options for all contingencies" in deciding whether to use military force against Assad's government, the Associated Press reported.
changes headline and second and third paragraphs to state meeting was postponed, not cancelled, adds background
