Russia should stop backing Assad, say G7 nations

Lucca (Italy) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said they would consider imposing sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Al Assad.

 Foreign ministers from the Group-of-Seven industrialised nations met on Monday to forge a response to the deadly chemical attack in Syria, and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said they would consider imposing sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Al Assad.
G7 diplomats gathering in Lucca, Italy, hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the United States' retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria.
Speaking after meeting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Johnson said ministers "will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures".
He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the "toxic" Assad regime, "or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution".