by Azeez Adeniyi

Russian President, Vladimir Putin on Friday diverted a warship to protect the Syrian coast against further missile attacks by the United States of America.

The United States had fired cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which President Donald Trump said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched, killing over 80 people.

The Russian president immediately sent his Admiral Grigorovich frigate, armed with cruise missiles and a self-defence system, from the Black Sea to dock in Syria.

[Read Also: US airstrikes in Syria, “an act of aggression” – Putin]

Putin has also ripped up an agreement to avoid mid-air clashes between Russian and US fighter jets over Syria.

The US was also branded ‘a partner of ISIS’ by al-Assad’s spokesman, calling the missile strikes ‘reckless and irresponsible’ and accused Trump of ‘naively falling’ for a ‘false propaganda campaign’ about the Idlib Sarin massacre.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, speaking alongside German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, said: ‘We do not want an escalation. We have to stop the hypocrisy. If Russia is acting in good faith it should stop and negotiate. We do not wish to raise the stakes, but to find a solution. You cannot deal with reality (use of chemical weapons) by resorting to propaganda.’

Azeez