Russia Slams U.S. Deployments in Jordan as Islamists Call for review of Decision

Russia on Friday called the deployment of U.S. troops in Jordan over the Syria crisis an unconstructive step that threatens to expand the conflict as the kingdom's Islamist opposition said Amman's government should review its decision.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed Wednesday that 150 U.S. military specialists had been deployed in Jordan since last year and that he had ordered the army to bolster the mission by bringing the total American presence to more than 200 troops.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said such a move ran counter to internationally-agreed principles for ending the crisis through negotiations.

"These are absolutely not the actions that we now need to bring Syria out of its dead end," Lukashevich told reporters.

"These actions exacerbate the Syria crisis, which is now gaining the dimensions of a regional crisis," the spokesman said.

Russia is viewed as one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's few allies because it vetoed three rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions against his government.

Jordan's opposition Islamic Action Front, which is the political arm of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, also said: "the government must review its decision to authorize the deployment of foreign troops on Jordanian soil.”

"The Islamic Action Front... categorically refuses the presence of foreign troops in Jordan," it said in a statement, stressing that Jordan's armed forces were capable of defending the nation.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani told Agence France Presse on Wednesday that the U.S. deployment was "to boost the Jordanian armed forces in light of the deteriorating situation in Syria."