REPORT: Putin warns West on Syria action

           
President Vladimir Putin warned the West against taking one-sided action in Syria but also said Russia "doesn't exclude" supporting a UN resolution on punitive military strikes if it is proved that Damascus used poison gas on its own people.                     

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press and Russia's state Channel 1 television, Putin said Moscow has provided some components of the S-300 air defense missile system to Syria but has frozen further shipments. He suggested that Russia may sell the potent missile systems elsewhere if Western nations attack Syria without UN Security Council backing.                          

The interview late Tuesday night at Putin's country residence outside the Russian capital was the only one he granted prior to the summit of G-20 nations in St. Petersburg, which opens Thursday. The summit was supposed to concentrate on the global economy but now looks likely to be dominated by the international crisis over allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the country's civil war.                         

Putin said he felt sorry that President Barack Obama canceled a one-on-one meeting in Moscow that was supposed to have happened before the summit. But he expressed hope that the two would have serious discussions about Syria and other issues in St. Petersburg.                  

Putin said it was "ludicrous" that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad  a staunch ally of Russia  would use chemical weapons at a time when it was holding sway against the rebels.                              

"If there is evidence that chemical weapons have been used, and used specifically by the regular army, this evidence should be submitted to the UN Security Council," said Putin, a former officer in the Soviet KGB. "And it ought to be convincing. It shouldn't be based on some rumors and information obtained by intelligence agencies through some kind of eavesdropping, some conversations and things like that."       


AP                    


For more details, please watch the full report in the video above