Russian officials reacted angrily on Thursday to the State Department’s suggestion that Russian troops will be brought home “in body bags” due to the breakdown of the Syria cease-fire deal with Russia.
“Once again we declare that we are fully prepared to continue the dialogue with the American side and carry on with the joint actions to combat terrorists in Syria,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov, according to the government-funded Russia Today.
“However, even the slightest hints of a threat to our soldiers and Russian citizens must be excluded from this dialogue. The matter of safety of Russian citizens, wherever they may be, is not up for bargaining. It is our main and unconditional priority.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova took it a step further, saying State Department spokesman John Kirby’s remarks are tantamount to a call for terrorists to “get ’em,” meaning Russian soldiers.
During a briefing on Wednesday, Kirby said Russian troops stood to lose from the breakdown of the cease-fire deal in Syria, a plan brokered by U.S. and Russian leaders to allow humanitarian aid to be brought to Aleppo.
“The consequences are that the civil war will continue in Syria, that extremists and extremists groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which will include, no question, attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities, and Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and they will continue to lose resources — even, perhaps, more aircraft,” Kirby said.
Zakharova, according to an English translation provided by RT, responded on her Facebook page: “Don’t you think that such ventriloquism about ‘body bags,’ ‘terrorist attacks in Russian cities’ and ‘loss of aircraft,’ sounds more like a ‘get ’em’ command, rather than a diplomatic comment?”
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday threatened to cut off negotiations with the Russians if Moscow and Damascus don’t end their bombing runs over Syria. But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow was still open to negotiations.
“In order to solve humanitarian problems and provide humanitarian access, we have repeatedly offered 48-hour cease-fires, but American counterparts have fixated entirely on the requirement of seven-day breaks for reasons only known to them,” Ryabkov said.
