Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said a strike on a miniature reactor near Damascus or other nuclear installations could contaminate the region with radioactivity, adding: “The consequences could be catastrophic,” according to Belfast Telegraph.

He spoke as Russia prepares to host the the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, which is expected to be largely dominated by the Syria crisis.

Russia’s Interfax news agency said Moscow also intends to bring up the issue at next week’s 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting.

IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the agency is ready to “consider the questions raised” by Lukashevich if it receives a formal request to do so from Moscow.

Meanwhile, China warned other world powers of the global economic risks of any U.S.-led military intervention in Syria.

Vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao, speaking in St. Petersburg, said such action “would definitely have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price”. He cited estimates that a 10 U.S. dollar rise in oil prices could push down global growth by 0.25%.

He urged a negotiated UN solution to the stand-off over allegations that Syria’s government used chemical weapons against its own people, expressing hope that “the world economic balance will become more stable rather than more complex and more challenging”.

U.S. President Barack Obama has arrived at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport for the G20 Summit, RIA Novosti reported. His official schedule does not include a meeting with President Vladimir Putin but Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov has not ruled out the two presidents could meet on the sidelines.

Speaking to reporters at the G20, Putin’s spokesperson said that “a separate meeting [between Putin and Obama] is not planned but there will, nonetheless, be some kind of conversations.”

Putin has mentioned some of the issues he intends to raise, should a meeting with Obama take place during the summit, as Syria, North Korea and Iran.

Source: PanARMENIAN.Net