Trump seems to rule out deeper US intervention in Syria

US president also says Kremlin’s backing for Assad ‘very bad for Russia,’ as Tillerson meets with Lavrov in Moscow

By Vivian Salama 12 April 2017, 5:32 pm

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US President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 10, 2017. (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump is appearing to rule out deeper American military intervention in Syria beyond the airstrikes he ordered based on US evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad attacked civilians with chemical weapons.

“Are we going to get involved with Syria? No,” Trump told Fox Business News in an interview that aired Wednesday.

Trump also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that in backing Assad, Putin was supporting someone who is “truly an evil person.”

“I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind. It’s very bad for this world,” Trump said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson enter a hall during a meeting in Moscow on April 12, 2017. (AFP Photo/Alexander Nemenov)

Later Wednesday, Trump planned to hold talks at the White House with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, while Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Since Trump took office in January, he has been confronted by European allies who have fear his administration will go easy on Russia. During his 2016 campaign, Trump said he would decide whether to honor the commitment to protect the Baltic republics against Russian aggression, based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

He has since made his support of NATO allies clear, but has reiterated his stance that European members need to meet their end of the bargain if they are to continue benefiting from the military alliance.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance of European and North American democracies created after World War II to strengthen international cooperation as a counter the rise of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a press conference in Moscow on April 11, 2017. (AFP/Pool/Sergei Chirikov)

Putin told state-run Mir television that relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in the early months of Trump’s presidency. “It can be said that the level of trust at the working level, especially at the military level, has not become better but most likely has degraded,” Putin said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

Putin’s spokesman said Putin may meet with Tillerson “if it is decided” that Putin needs to be briefed on the Tillerson-Lavrov talks.