In their blanket coverage of the U.S. airstrikes in Syria, the tone and message of mainstream Russian news channels was a familiar one — mostly matching, sometimes verbatim, official government statements that criticize the airstrikes. An anti-aircraft defence missile system on the Moskva cruiser in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Syria, on December 17, 2015. There was no shortage of speculation that future relations between Russia and the U.S. would be strained, and warnings of possible direct confrontation ahead. Reached by phone Friday in Moscow, Drobnitski expressed anger and alarm at the airstrikes and warned things could escalate very quickly. Drobnitski said Trump betrayed his own words, his voters and Russians who thought something would change in how the U.S. and Russia worked together in Syria.

Source: CBC News April 08, 2017 01:26 UTC