Is Russia Going To War With US? Russian MP Slams Nikki Haley’s Comments On Removing Assad From Power In Syria

As tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalated after Donald Trump ordered airstrike in Syria over a chemical attack that killed dozens, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said that peace in Syria cannot be restored unless its President Bashar al-Assad is removed from power. On Sunday, Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, slammed Haley for her statement.

"This is a direct sabotage of the international community’s efforts to launch the process of political negotiations between the authorities and opposition. US opinion will be read by both moderate and armed opposition. They will ask, what is the point in going to Astana or Geneva [talks on Syrian settlement]," Kosachev posted on his Facebook account late Saturday.

In an interview with CNN, Haley said the U.S. administration's priorities in order to end the war in Syria includes defeating the Islamic State group, pushing Iranian influence out of Syria, and the removal of Assad.

Read: Stock Market Reacts To Trump’s Airstrikes On Syrian Base

"We don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there," she said.

Haley told the U.N. Security Council after the Syria airstrike that her country is prepared to take additional steps against Assad’s regime.

“The international community has repeatedly expressed its outrage,” she said. “On Tuesday, the Assad regime launched yet another chemical attack on civilians, murdering innocent men, women, and children in the most gruesome way. Assad did this because he thought he could get away with it. He thought he could get away with it because he knew Russia would have his back. That changed last night.”

She went on adding: "The United States took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more but we hope that will not be necessary. It is time for all civilized nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution.”

The U.S. fired Tomahawk missiles Thursday night into a government-controlled air base in Syria following a deadly chemical attack against civilians that left more than 100 people dead and 300 injured. Trump said the retaliation was a “vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of nuclear weapons.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the airstrike an "aggression against a sovereign nation" and saw it as an "attempt to distract the world from civilian casualties from U.S. military action in Iraq."