Russia convened an urgent Security Council session after United States attacked Syrian airbase.

On April 7, 2017, after the deadly U.S. strike against a Syrian airbase, the Russian government cancelled the memorandum put in place for ensuring flight safety in the course of military operations in Syria.

“The Russian side suspends the memorandum on the prevention of incidents and on ensuring the safety of flights in the course of operations in Syria concluded with the United States,” said the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry. “We urge the United Nations Security Council to meet in an urgent session to discuss the current situation.” Russia’s measures were a response to the United States’ attack on Syrian air force that was carried out purportedly because Syria used chemical weapons in the Idlib province.

“It is obvious that the strike with U.S. cruise missiles had been prepared beforehand,” the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. “It is clear to any observer that the decision to deal the strikes was made in Washington before the events in Idlib, which were used as a pretext for a show of muscle. It is beyond doubt that the U.S. military strike is an attempt to distract attention from the situation in Mosul, where as a result of actions by the U.S. coalition hundreds of civilians died and the humanitarian disaster is growing,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“Without taking the trouble to look into the situation, the United States opted for the show of muscle, for military resistance to a country that fights against international terrorism,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement ran. “This is not the first time that the United States takes such a reckless approach, which merely exacerbates the world’s problems and poses a threat to international security,” the diplomatic statement read. The Foreign Ministry added that it had on more than one occasion offered to cooperate in countering the terror threat.

“We will never agree to such illegitimate actions against the lawful Syrian authorities, who have for a long time been involved in an irreconcilable war on international terrorism,” the statement continued.

“In its attempts to excuse the military strike, Washington utterly distorted the events in Idlib,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The U.S. side cannot but be aware that Syria’s government forces did not use chemical weapons there. Damascus does not have any, which has more than once been confirmed by competent bodies. The corresponding conclusions were made by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which over the past years has inspected practically all facilities that had or might have been involved in Syria’s chemical weapons program. As for Idlib, terrorists there were making bombs stuffed with poisonous chemicals for their subsequent use in Syria and Iraq. That facility was eliminated by the Syrian Air Force.”

“Undoubtedly, the U.S. strike is an attempt to divert attention from the situation in Mosul where hundreds of civilians lost their lives due to the actions of, inter alia, the U.S.-led coalition, and the humanitarian disaster is mounting,” the Ministry concluded.