Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Washington is attempting to split Syria and create a quasi-state on the Euphrates River's east bank as the US is opposing the return of Syria's northeast to the Syrian government.
The minister also called the US plans to transfer control in Syria's buffer zone illegitimate, adding that Washington prohibits its allies from investing in the redevelopment of other liberated parts of Syria that are controlled by the Syrian government.
"They are actively investing and are forcing their allies to pay for redevelopment of that part of Syria. However, they are prohibiting their allies to invest in the restructuring of the infrastructure of the other parts of Syria which are controlled by the legitimate government," Lavrov noted.
US President Donald Trump announced victory over the Daesh terrorist group in mid-December, saying that US forces would pull out of Syria since the terrorists had been defeated there.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia