USA TODAY:
1. On the videos from Syria purporting to show victims of a suspected chemical weapons attack, which the U.S. government has blamed on the Syrian government:
“These are horrible pictures. The question is only who did it and what they did, and who is responsible for this. These pictures do not answer the questions I have just posed. There is an opinion that it’s a compilation by these very rebels who are connected with al-Qaeda and who always distinguished by exceptional brutality.”
2. On whether Russia would agree to military action if it became convinced that the attack was carried out by the Syrian government:
“I do not exclude this, but I would like to draw your attention to one absolutely key aspect. In line with international law, only the U.N. Security Council could sanction the use of force against a sovereign state. Any other pretext or method which might be used to justify the use of force against an independent sovereign state are inadmissible and can only be interpreted as an aggression.”…
4. On relations with Obama:
“President Obama hasn’t been elected by the American people in order to be pleasant to Russia. And your humble servant hasn’t been elected by the people of Russia to be pleasant to someone either. We work, we argue about some issues. We are human. Sometimes one of us gets vexed. But I would like to repeat once again that global mutual interests form a good basis for finding a joint solution to our problems.” .. (more)
