A day after the New York Times ran an op-ed by Russian president Vladimir Putin declaring he is “not protecting the Syrian government, but international law,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, says he’s not buying it.

“I don’t trust the Russians. Their interest is protecting Syria,” Shelby said in an interview with Now This News.

After a gaffe by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in which he suggested the Syrian government be given a week to turn over their chemical weapons to the international community, Putin latched on to it as a way to take U.S. military intervention off the table. The Syrians jumped at the chance as well.

“We’d hoped there would be some kind of diplomatic resolution, just about anything short of war,” Shelby replied, “but if a Russian makes a proposal, and Syria grabs on to it, you’ve got to be suspicious, you’ve got to be skeptical.”

“Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t,” he continued. “I would verify anything that happened and I would not let them drag it out. On the other hand, I don’t believe going in with a limited strike — or going in at all — is the right thing to do.”

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