Kremlin sees threat of military strike against Syria averted

A military strike threatened by the United States against Syria has been temporarily avoided, Kremlin said on Thursday. "In recent days and hours it so happened that the threat of a strike against Syria has been averted, at least temporarily," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. He added that a foreign military operation in Syria would be a blow to regional and international stability. Ushakov called the recent developments around Syria "a very important impulse," adding Moscow has been doing everything not to let it slip. On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to embrace the Russian proposal to put Syrian chemical weapons under international control after weeks of warning of a military action against Syria for alleged use of chemical weapons. Ushakov noted that the Russian initiative has been supported and discussed. "This is a chance to forward Syrian crisis' settlement onto a peaceful track," he said. According to the Kremlin aide, President Vladimir Putin is going to discuss Syrian crisis at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday. In an article carried by the New York Times on Wednesday, Putin stressed that under international law, the use of military force is permitted only in self-defense or by a decision of the UN Security Council.