“It is highly suspicious that the United States chose to conduct this particular air strike at this time," Churkin said, adding "it was quite significant and not accidental that it happened just two days before the Russian-American arrangements were supposed to come into full force."
He went on to add, “the beginning of work of the Joint Implementation Group was supposed to be September 19. So if the US wanted to conduct an effective strike on Al-Nusra or ISIS, in Deir ez-Zor or anywhere else, they could wait two more days and coordinate with our military and be sure that they are striking the right people.”
“So it may well be, one has to conclude, that the airstrike has been conducted in order to distrust the operation of the Joint Implementation Group and actually not to allow it to be set in motion,” Churkin said. “It may well be that the United States is trying to hide the fact that they are actually not in control of the situation, that they allowed the situation to get out of control.”
MNA/RT