US Envoy Slams Russian ‘Stunt’ of Calling Emergency UN Security Council Meeting

Russian Envoy Storms Out of Meeting, Condemns 'Heavy-Handed' US

The calamitous fallout from today’s US airstrikes in Deir Ezzor, a blunder which killed at least 83 Syrian troops, continues to mount, as not only did it amount to a major US violation of the ceasefire, not only may it end up handing the entire oil-rich Deir Ezzor Province to ISIS, but it is also creating a major diplomatic blowup with Russia.

Russia responded to the bombing by calling an emergency UN Security Council meeting, leading US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power to publicly blow up, furiously slamming the meeting as “a magician’s trick” and “a stunt,” insisting the Syrian government is fully to blame for what’s happening in Syria, and the meeting is a “diversion from what is happening on the ground.”

Power continued to rave against Russia, insisting the Russians were trying to score “cheap points” by making so much of the US killing scores of Syrian soldiers who were defending the Deir Ezzor airport from ISIS, and saying that the only way forward was for Russia to stop criticizing the US and instead start demanding the Syrian government participate in the ceasefire. This was in spite of Syria’s government not being accused of a ceasefire violation here, and again, the US already having admitted to directly, albeit mistakenly, attacking and killing scores of Syrian troops on a Syrian military base.

While Power came out of the meeting looking like an absolute monster to most, she did succeed in derailing the meeting on US airstrikes bolstering ISIS, as her Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, stormed out of the meeting, saying he has “never seen such American heavy-handedness” on the international stage. Churkin added that Russia continues to have serious concerns about the incident, and that he personally views the timing of the US attack as “suspicious.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.