Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter was sharply critical of Russia Thursday, both of its actions in Syria and for its possible intervention in the U.S. presidential election.
Speaking alongside his British counterpart in London, Carter said while it’s not for him to comment on intelligence matters, he did offer his view that the allegation of Russian hacking undermines “the integrity of an electoral system” and that in a democracy, that “should be of concern for all Americans.
“We call this kind of activity and this kind of threat in the NATO context ‘hybrid warfare,’ ” Carter said, calling it a danger that “we’ve seen in other countries in Europe.
“Hybrid warfare generally speaking, we saw in spades in Ukraine,” Carter added, without mentioning Russia specifically or President Vladimir Putin by name.
Carter also blamed the massive suffering and horrific civilian death toll in Syria, not on a failure of U.S. policy of diplomacy, but on Russia’s broken promises and callous disregard for human life.
“This tragedy reflects an incredible brutality on the part of the regime, and also their backers, including Russia,” Carter said, citing Moscow’s “willingness to suspend anything like the rules that we apply to ourselves when we conduct military operations.”
Carter said Russia’s intervention in Syria has been dishonest from the start. “The Russians came in, I’ll remind you, to Syria saying that they were there to promote political transition and they haven’t done that,” he said. “And they also said they were coming in to fight ISIL. They haven’t done that, either.”
Carter was speaking at the conclusion of the last meeting of core members of the counter-Islamic State coalition in London.
British Defence Minister Michael Fallon also blamed Russia for the misery suffered by the citizens of Aleppo. “We’ve been trying to get food and medicines and other humanitarian aid into Aleppo since the summer,” Fallon said. “And we’ve had absolutely zero cooperation from Russia.”
