Praising Putin on Syria Like Lauding Ex-Wife-Beater, U.K. Says
- Foreign secretary slams Russian intervention in Parliament
- Civilians bombed, hospitals and schools hit, Hammond says
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
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U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond attacked President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s intervention in Syria even as he began to pull his troops out of the Middle Eastern country, saying that welcoming the withdrawal would be like lauding a husband who’d given up abusing his spouse.
“Somebody goes into another country, starts bombing civilian populations, destroying hospitals and schools,” Hammond told the House of Commons in London on Tuesday. “If, and it’s still a big if, they do decide five months later that they’ve done enough, let’s not give them too much praise. It’s a bit like: ‘did he stop beating his wife?’”