Boris Johnson
Britain faced the danger of a diplomatic crisis in relations with the US after the winner of the presidential election Donald trump has said it is ready to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and also that the destruction of the “Islamic state” is more important than the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This writes The Telegaph.
British officials recognised that London will have “very difficult” negotiations with the elected President in the coming months on these topics.
As noted, trump’s views are in stark contradiction with the interests of the British Prime Minister Theresa may, who accused Assad’s “brutal violence” and said that in the long term, Syria must be “without Assad”.
In turn, the Minister of foreign Affairs Boris Johnson has accused Russia of war crimes for the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
The dramatic shift in US policy has caused serious concern in the British foreign office, and Britain will use the next three months, before trump takes the presidency to try to convince him of the importance of removing Assad.
As expected, Johnson in the coming weeks will travel to USA to meet with top officials from the administration of the tramp and to make clear — the UK believes that Assad must go
Trump earlier said he was ready to cooperate with Damascus in the fight against the terrorist group “Islamic state” (IG banned in Russia) and to stop using the so-called moderate Syrian opposition. “We don’t know them — he said about the anti-government rebels. Who are all these people?”
Similar views trump adhered to in the past. “I’m not saying Assad is a good man, because it’s not true. But our main problem is not Assad, and ISIS,” he declared in March 2016.
Previously, Johnson has repeatedly criticized trump. In particular, last year the Minister said that he feared to go to new York due to the fact that “there exists a real risk to meet Donald trump.” After the election he stated that he looked forward to the strengthening of the British-American partnership during the term of trump.