The Kremlin has warned the suspension of its deal over flight safety and preventing incidents with the U.S. significantly increases risk in Syria.
"The risk has been increased substantially," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to the Russian news agency, TASS.
Peskov confirmed Russia had suspended its memorandum with the U.S. on preventing incidents and ensuring flight safety in Syria.
"The memorandum lost its meaning tonight with [the U.S.] strikes," he said.
The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military air base American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly chemical attack Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed.
The missiles were fired from two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean and hit the air base at approximately 3.45 a.m. Syrian local time Friday (0045GMT).
Aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars were targeted, the Pentagon said.
- US informed Russia
Peskov said the U.S. had informed Russia before it carried out the missile strikes.
He said a phone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump had not been planned yet.
Meanwhile, Putin held a detailed meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, the Kremlin said in a statement.
"Washington's actions were once again qualified as an act of aggression, contrary to international law," the statement said.
During the meeting, they expressed deep concern over the "inevitable and negative" consequences of "aggressive" actions for the common efforts in the fight against terrorism, according to the statement.
“The parties said it is highly regrettable that the bilateral Russian-US relations were damaged as a result of the strikes on the Syrian air base.
“The meeting also considered various issues related to the Russian Aerospace Forces’ continuing operation to support counterterrorism operations by the Syrian armed forces,” the statement added.
Russia regarded the U.S. missile strikes on Syria as an "act of aggression" against a "sovereign" state delivered in violation of international law under a "far-fetched pretext", the Kremlin said in an earlier statement.
The U.S strikes were billed as a response to a recent chemical attack in Syria.
On Tuesday, more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed and 500 others -- mostly children -- were injured in the attack allegedly carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime warplanes in the town of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib province, according to Syrian opposition government's Health Minister Firas Jundi.
The Syrian regime, for its part, denied allegations it targeted the area with chemical weapons.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than a quarter-million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.
