Washington (Sputnik) – US Secretary of state, candidate Mike Pompeo during a Senate hearing declared an end to Washington’s “soft” approach to Moscow – in addition to identifying aggressive policy against North Korea and Iran – as well as the United States and Russia are headed for a collision course on the alleged chemical attack.
Pompey comments were made before the foreign Relations of the U.S. Senate on Thursday amid rising tensions between Washington and Moscow, fuelled by a series of mysterious tweets President Donald trump this week, who warned Russia that military strikes on Syria will be allocated after the United States and many of their allies have accused President Bashar Assad’s government of dropping chlorine bombs and kill civilians in Eastern ghouta Duma settlement over the weekend.
On March 13, trump announced that he fired former Secretary of state Rex Tillerson and appointed Pompey to take his place. Pompeo holds the post of CIA Director from January 23, 2017.
A SOFT END POLICY
Pompeo, during testimony on Thursday, said that the United States should take a tougher stance against Russia and increase pressure on the government of President Vladimir Putin. He called for tougher measures against Russia for allegedly intervening in Ukraine and to intervene in the elections of 2016 in the US, along with alleged violations of human rights.
“Russia continues to behave aggressively, enabled by years of soft policy towards this aggression,” said Pompeo group the Senate. “Now over”.
The top nominee diplomat also presented a long list of achievements of the Administration trump scored on counteraction of Moscow, including killing hundreds of Russians.
“The list of actions that this administration has taken — I’d be happy to go over each of them,” said Pompeo. “A few weeks ago, the Russians have met their match and a couple of hundreds of Russians were killed.”
Pompeo was referring to the incident in February, when the U.S.-led coalition began air strikes in Syria, which reportedly killed 100 government soldiers. Moscow said, while several dozen Russian citizens were injured in the clashes, were not soldiers.
Pompeo said that the United States should do more to enforce sanctions related to the so-called opponents of the Magnitsky act and fight America with the help of the Law on sanctions (CAATSA), because Putin “still has not received enough messages”.
April 6, the Ministry of Finance has imposed sanctions on CAATSA 38 Russian individuals and legal entities, including senior government officials, the costs associated with the election intervention, the intervention in Ukraine and supporting Assad. This step was taken less than a month after the U.S. government sent to the Russian special services with the approval CAATSA.
Pompeo also said that the United States should continue to provide defensive weapons to Ukraine and that sanctions shall remain imposed on Russia, while Moscow is not fully fulfilling the Minsk agreements.
Moscow has repeatedly warned about the inadmissibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine, saying such action will only lead to an escalation of the military conflict in the Eastern region of the country in the Donbass, ongoing since 2014.
SYRIA WAR DRUM
In prepared remarks ahead of his testimony, Pompey supported the aggressive rhetoric trump administration in response to the incident in the Duma.
“The failed state of Syria is a growing threat to human rights, national security and regional stability, and he deserves a harsher response,” Pompeo said on Thursday.
The Minister of defense of Jim Mattis, however, during testimony in Congress on Thursday refused to confirm if the attack on Syria was “not far off.”
“We have not yet taken any decision to put military strikes in Syria,” Mattis told the house armed services Committee.
Mattis said national security Council had met to discuss response to alleged chemical attack. The Pentagon will provide a full report to Congress, if trump decides to put the air strike on Syria, Mattis said.
As the Pentagon and White house mull options for Syria, the nuclear aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier is on the way to the region.
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons, saying that allegedly staged the attack on the terrorist group Jaish al-Islam should be used as a pretext for foreign intervention in Syria.
The Russian Centre for reconciliation in Syria on Sunday strongly denied reports of a chemical attack in the Duma. Representatives of the center visited the site of the alleged assault and was questioned by local doctors, who say they have not received individuals with symptoms of chemical poisoning.
IRAN, NORTH KOREA
Pompeo said he supported the administration’s decision to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and supports the President’s proposal to “fix” the Iranian nuclear agreement.
“There are a lot of diplomatic work, including support for the intentions of the President to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN,” Pompeo said in a speech published by the White house ahead of Thursday’s session. “President trump not playing games at the negotiating table — and I’m not going too.”
Pompeo told the Senate foreign Affairs Committee he never pushed for “regime change” in North Korea, but also said he could envision a ground invasion.
The Director of the CIA also supported the trump plan to fix “the most egregious shortcomings of the” joint comprehensive plan of action (SVPD), which controls Iran’s nuclear program, while Pompeo was forced to cede one point, associated with the fulfilling the agreement.
“With the information that I provided, I saw no evidence that they are not in agreement,” Pompeo said during hearings on his nomination.
The Russian Embassy in the United States in his statement, he said, of Pompey, that Russia interfered in the elections of 2016.
“We would like to reiterate that Russia is not involved in regime change, interference in the internal Affairs of other States or secretly staged a “revolution”.’ However, the United States, have mastered these methods, as they have impressive experience in this sphere”, – said late on Thursday.
Some deputies overreacted Pompey of evidence and rhetoric, including Senator Tom Udal who said that he was concerned that the CIA Director will not be removing the President “a dangerous and volatile tweets” and saber-rattling, which brings US closer to war.
“After our meeting in the beginning of this week, and today I remain very concerned that the Director Pompeo will double down on the worst policies of President trump,” Udall said in a press release on Thursday. “Pompeo will check and call the President the worst and most dangerous instincts, and therefore, I will oppose his nomination.”
The national Iranian American Council, Jamal Abdi, the Executive Director warned in a press release that it was clear that a vote for Pompeo was voting for the murder of Iranian nuclear deal and putting the U.S. and Iran on the warpath.
“Trusting Mike Pompeo to be the head of our country, the diplomat would be akin to appointing the arsonist as the fire chief,” said Abdi.
The Chairman of the foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress Bob Corker announced on Thursday evening to reporters that he thinks that the group members will vote on the nomination of Pompey to become the U.S. Secretary of state on April 23.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
