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If it weren't for President Obama we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today including Special Counsel Mueller's investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place.Also see:
"We would like to hear from anybody who visited the area close to the Maltings shopping centre where these two people were taken ill on Sunday afternoon, and may have seen something that could assist the investigation. The two people taken ill were in Salisbury centre from around 1.30pm. Did you see anything out of the ordinary? It may be that at the time, nothing appeared out of place or untoward but with what you now know, you remember something that might be of significance. Your memory of that afternoon and your movements alone could help us with missing pieces of the investigation. The weather was poor that day so there were not as many people out and about. Every statement we can take is important."Understandably, Mr Rowley was keen to receive as much information and as many details from local people as possible, in order to help the investigation. This is of course entirely natural for someone in overall charge of an investigation, and so I assume that you would echo his sentiments.
"During Lavrov's visit, not only this issue was discussed, but also many other issues," Ushakov told reporters, answering whether withdrawal of Iranian troops was discussed during Lavrov's visit.Note that Kozhin doesn't actually confirm that the 100-km deal is legitimate, or even that it was Lavrov who brought it up. It's hard to imagine it could be legit, given that Damascus itself is less than 100 km from Golan.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed the issues concerning the Syrian settlement with Netanyahu.
"The other steps are taken as a follow-up to this discussion, including Lavrov and Gerasimov's visit to Israel now," Ushakov added.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry has also commented on the media reports that Israel had rejected Moscow's proposal to withdraw the Iranian forces in Syria to a distance of 100 kilometers (some 62 miles) from the Israeli border.
"These reports are not true. I can state responsibly that the talks between [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov with Prime Minister Netanyahu were very constructive. The Israeli leadership highly appreciated the Russian efforts to create a zone of de-escalation in southwestern Syria, which included the withdrawal of all non-Syrian armed groups from this region," deputy head of the ministry's information and press department Artyom Kozhin said in written commentary.
Comment: Further reading: SC Mueller seeks immunity/secrecy for 5 witnesses against Manafort; is it to protect the Podesta brothers?