"I think that this anti-Russian hysteria, intervening in the elections are just the means to stop any cooperation between the United States and Russia on Syria," Azad said on the sidelines of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) conference in Virginia.
Azad mentioned two promises made by US President Donald Trump during his election campaign with regard to Syria, in particular, cooperation with Russia, and seeking to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group (Daesh) and not to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. The WPC representative added that the military industrial establishment of the United States was opposed to that position and they tried to undermine Trump's policy.
"But it is very important, we cannot solve this problem without US — Russia cooperation… Whoever is involved in sabotaging this process has a vested interest in continuing that conflict. They put Trump on offensive now because if he continues on delivering that promise, probably he will be immediately accused of being agent of Russia," Azad said.
Azad also claimed that the United States was violating international law by interfering in Syria's domestic affairs.
"There needs to be a change in the US policy which I do not think is a matter of who is a president," the WPC representative added.
Russia and the United States are both conducting anti-terror operations in Syria, having previously agreed on a number of arrangements, including the memorandum of understanding on air safety. The two sides have held regular talks in compliance with the memorandum, which has been in effect since October 2015, though a temporarily suspension of cooperation on the issue occurred in April due to the US missile strike against the Syrian government’s Ash Sha’irat airbase in the Idlib province.
The conference, held at Greater Richmond Convention Center on Friday-Sunday, features panel discussions on such issues as wars around the world, the expansion of NATO, the situation in Ukraine, as well as the phenomenon of color revolutions among others.
