The Kremlin announced Friday that Russia would monitor the moves of US forces and the implementation mechanisms of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull his troops from Syria.
“Let’s wait and see together whether the Americans will really leave the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic," Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a local channel.
He said Moscow wanted more information about the planned withdrawal of US troops from Syria, announced unexpectedly by Trump last Wednesday.
“We need to understand how the forces would pull out and where they are planning to head,” he said.
Peskov said he would rather disagree with the statement that some of the participants of this process regret the withdrawal of the US military from Syria.
The spokesman explained that Russia did not understand what Washington's next steps in Syria would be, and that chaotic and unpredictable decision-making was creating discomfort in international affairs.
Peskov reiterated that the US presence in Syria was in violation of international law, adding that in some areas under the US control, there was a humanitarian catastrophe and terrorists were being equipped with weapons.
“The US military presence and combat operations of US planes on the Syrian territory do not correspond to the international law," he explained.
Peskov added that the presence of US forces does not help reach a political and diplomatic settlement in Syria.
Last Wednesday, Trump announced plans to pull 2,000 US troops out of northern Syria, where they have been backing Kurdish rebels in the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He also ordered the Pentagon to draw up a plan for the withdrawal of about 7,000 US troops from Afghanistan.
