Russia deploys missile frigate to Syria, calls U.S. attack “aggression”

Responding to Trump’s unexpected military attack on Syria in which 59 cruise missiles were launched, Russian President Vladimir Putin “regards the strikes as aggression against a sovereign nation,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

President Putin believes the highly successful strikes were carried out “in violation of international law, and also under an invented pretext,” the spokesman continued insisting that “the Syrian army doesn’t have chemical weapons.” saying this had been “observed and confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a special UN unit.”

The U.S. reports that 58 of 59 targets were hit by TLAM-E missiles, the latest generation of the legendary Tomahawk Land Attack Missile line.

The Kremlin says that Assad’s chemical stockpile was removed which had been “observed and confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a special UN unit.”

Putin believes that the U.S. attack “deals significant damage to US-Russian ties, which are already in a deplorable state.”

Other members of the Russian government were not so subtle.

“It’s a new round of escalation in the Middle East. These ill-judged, irresponsible actions don’t contribute to global security, security in the Middle East,” Andrei Krasov, the first deputy head of the defense committee in the Russian parliament, told state news agency RIA. “Other military conflicts, an expansion of military conflicts, are entirely possible,” he added.

Moscow suspended its memorandum of understanding on flight safety in Syria with the US following the missile strike, calling the attack “a demonstration of force.” The Russian government has also shut down the de-escalation channel meant to help keep small incidents from turning into full-fledged war.

The Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich armed with Kalibr cruise missiles will be deployed to the Tartus naval base in Syria. The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s frigate The Admiral Grigorovich, currently on a routine voyage, will enter the Mediterranean later Friday, according to Russian news agency TASS.