Boris the ‘poodle’ mocked by the Kremlin after slamming Putin’s ‘deplorable’ defence of Assad and pulling out of Moscow summit
BORIS JOHNSON has been labelled Trump's 'poodle' and a 'buffoon' for cancelling a diplomatic trip to Moscow after slamming Russia's ongoing defence of the brutal Assad regime in Syria.
The Foreign Secretary had been preparing for crunch talks in Moscow this weekend but said the situation changed "fundamentally" after the chemical attacks in Syria.
However, his last-minute U-turn has seen the Tory politician come under fire at home and in Moscow.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said he'd become Washington's 'poodle' while those close to Vladimir Putin said he had been ordered not to go by the US.
In a statement, Johnson said: "We deplore Russia’s continued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.
"We call on Russia to do everything possible to bring about a political settlement in Syria and work with the rest of the international community to ensure that the shocking events of the last week are never repeated."
It's now been reported Putin will be urged to pull troops from Syria and drop support for Assad in a joint UK-US plan being spearheaded by Johnson.
Johnson will now drum up support for a coalition to take on Russia and stop it propping up the evil Assad regime.
The Sunday Telegraph states Johnson cancelled his Moscow trip after a top secret midnight phone call with Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state.
The pair agreed that the Foreign Secretary should instead lead a drive to secure a “hard-hitting” statement from the G7 bloc of nations over Russia’s Syrian involvement.
The proposal to end Syria’s six-year civil war will then be presented to Russian ministers by Mr Tillerson when he visits Moscow later this month.
Mr Farron claimed that Mr Johnson is beginning to look like a diplomatic liability.
He said: "Is this what taking back control looks like? Our Government quick to blindly follow every order from the Trump White House.
"Boris has revealed himself to be a poodle of Washington, having his diary managed from across the pond.
"It is pretty shameful when even Trump judges you to be a buffoon."
An aide to Mr Johnson said: "It is a shame the Lib Dems would rather snipe and be silly when the US and UK are trying to work on a plan to help the innocent people of Syria and stop a devastating civil war."
It was the second time Mr Johnson has delayed the trip, which would have made him the first Foreign Secretary to visit Russia since relations went into deep freeze five years ago.
He was due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for talks but it was abandoned following the deadly chemical attack on Syrians.
Kremlin sources said they believed the real reason for the cancellation of Mr Johnson’s trip was that he had been ‘ordered’ by Washington to abort it to avoid upstaging Mr Tillerson.
Mr Putin’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "Our Western colleagues live in their own reality where they first try to make collective plans, and then cancel them by making up absurd excuses."
One of Mr Putin’s allies, Russian MP Alexey Pushkov, claimed the move proved that Britain was in thrall to the US, saying: "This is how London will be able to save on other Johnson trips – Tillerson will speak for the two of them."
Another of Putin's diplomats scoffed at Boris Johnson's snub of the Kremlin, accusing him of "theatrics" to disguise his "lack of argument".
Britain will turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin this week by directly accusing Russia of complicity in war crimes in Syria.
Mr Johnson will demand he pulls the rug from Assad’s murderous regime.
They message - to be delivered by Mr Tillerson — was hammered out in his transatlantic phone call with BoJo.
He will confront Russia with evidence that it knew of, and tried to cover up, the regime’s deadly sarin strike that left 87 people dead.
A Foreign Office source said Mr Johnson would now “lead efforts to bring together a coalition of support against ongoing activity and the Syrian regime.”
An ally said: “Boris is relaxed about who delivers the message in the end.
“He is more concerned that two trips a few days apart may allow Russia to split hairs and contrive to find differences.”
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Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon last night accused Russia of being “by proxy responsible for every civilian death last week” because “this latest war crime happened on their watch”.
He said: “Someone who uses barrel bombs and chemicals to his own people cannot be the future leader of Syria. Assad must go.
Speaking yesterday Tillerson said the US missile attack was “proportional”.
The former Exxon boss said Russia had “failed in its responsibility” to deliver on a 2013 deal it helped broker to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.
“So either Russia has been complicit or Russia has been simply incompetent on its ability to deliver.”
Russia has repeatedly claimed the horrific gas attack earlier this week in Idlib was the result of Syrian forces hitting a jihadi depot where anti-Assad troops were building chemical weapons.
The US retaliated to the chemical attacks, bombing an airbase with 59-missiles in a huge assault.
Boris Johnson’s trip was originally announced at the start of March – in what would be the first visit by a Foreign Secretary to the country since 2012.
The trip was due to take place last month but was postponed because of a rescheduled NATO meeting.
Syrian forces earlier accused the US of being a “partner of ISIS” describing the bombing as an act of “blatant aggression” - while rebels welcomed the move but said the attack was "not enough".
But Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Japan also joined the list of nations that backed the US missile strikes.
French President Francois Hollande said the US response is what France asked for in 2013 after a previous "chemical attack" in Syria.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was understandable given the Syrian people's suffering.
She said: "The attack of the United States is understandable given the dimension of the war crimes, given the suffering of innocent people, and given the blockage in the UN Security Council."
Saudi Arabia said in a statement: "A responsible source at the foreign ministry expressed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's full support for the American military operations on military targets in Syria, which came as a response to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians."