Cancellation of Johnson's Visit to Moscow 'Serious Mistake' - Russian Lawmaker

According to the deputy head of Russia's State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, the cancellation of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's visit to Moscow is "a serious mistake."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Deputy Head of Russia's State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Alexei Chepa believes that the cancellation of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's visit to Moscow is "a serious mistake," the lawmaker told Sputnik on Saturday.

"I think that it is a serious mistake of the UK Foreign Office…. When diplomats go silent, the guns start speaking, there is such a famous phrase," Chepa said.

Russian senator Alexei Pushkov noted that the move showed that London did not plan a substantive discussion, but only 'standard accusations."

"Cancellation of Johnson's visit to Moscow simply states the fact that London has nothing to say except for standard accusations," Pushkov wrote on his Twitter page.

Earlier in the day, UK's Foreign Office announced that Johnson's visit was canceled over the situation in Syria. The British Embassy told Sputnik on Saturday that it had informed the Russian Foreign Ministry about the cancellation of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's visit to Moscow, which was scheduled for April 10.

The situation in Syria has significantly aggravated this week. On Tuesday, Syrian opposition forces stated that some 80 people were killed and 200 injured in a chemical weapon attack in the Syrian Idlib province, blaming the Syrian army for the incident. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the attack claimed the lives of 84 people.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that the airstrike near Khan Shaykhun by the Syrian air force hit a terrorist warehouse that stored chemical weapons slated for delivery to Iraq, and called on the UN Security Council to launch a proper investigation into the incident.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem denied on Thursday the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident and said that the Syrian government forces had never used chemical weapons against civilians or terrorists and would never do that. However, a number of western officials have blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for the attack, including Johnson, French President Francois Hollande and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that groundless accusations in the chemical weapons incident in Syria's Idlib were unacceptable before the investigation into the matter had been carried out.

The situation deteriorated further, as Washington launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on Thursday night at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, located in nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Syrian city of Homs. The attack was a response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus.