Russia is guilty of prolonging the war in Syria and may have committed war crimes by targeting an aid convoy, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said.

Russia is guilty of prolonging the war in Syria and may have committed war crimes by targeting an aid convoy, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in an interview aired on Sunday.

A 31-truck convoy was attacked on Monday night, killing around 20 civilians. US officials believe Russian aircraft were responsible for the strike, but Moscow has denied involvement.

“(Russia) are guilty of protracting this war and making it far more hideous,” Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

“When it comes to instances such as the bombing of aid targets in Aleppo, we should be looking at whether or not that targeting is done in the knowledge that those are wholly innocent civilian targets, that is a war crime.”

Britain has lot to do before triggering EU divorce

Britain has a lot of work to do before triggering the formal divorce procedure with the European Union but once it is done, the country will not let the process drag on, the foreign minister said.

Last week, Johnson said Britain would trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty to start its exit from the bloc early next year. He was swiftly put in his place by Prime Minister Theresa May’s aides who said the policy was the same – Britain would not invoke the procedure this year.

“I think the crucial thing is that obviously we are not going to do it before Christmas and I think we’ve got to do a lot of work to get our ducks in order and that is going on,” Johnson said on the BBC program.

“But then after that, as the prime minister has rightly said, this process probably shouldn’t drag on.”

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