Russia to US: Leave Syria, deal with your own crisis

Russia has called on the United States to end its illegal occupation of Syria and instead deal with its own internal crises amid social unrest that has gripped the country over the murder of another black man by a white police officer.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned as "crazy" recent remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker about the Russian military's presence in Syria.

Schenker said on Thursday that Russia should “go out” of Syria as it had played a “destructive” role there.

"It seems that he [Schenker] does not know what he was speaking about. His remarks went beyond good and evil. They are stupid remarks," a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The professional level in the US Department of State became very low. The US should leave Syria and deal with its internal crisis."

The Russian embassy in Washington also responded to "Schenker’s blatant call for Russia to "go out of the region".

"We would like to remind: Russian military is stationed in Syria at the invitation of its government,” it said.

"The real question here: what are the grounds for the USA to occupy several swaths of this sovereign country? As far as we know none of them are legal. Neither the legitimate authorities nor the UN Security Council sanctioned American troops deployment," said the embassy.

Since September 2014, the United States has been leading a military coalition conducting airstrikes against purported targets of the Daesh terrorist group inside Syria without any authorization from the Damascus government.

The military alliance has repeatedly been charged with targeting Syrian infrastructure and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

SS