Russian choppers heading to Syria are refurbished, U.S. admits

Russian Mi-24 helicopter gunships

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's accusation that Russia "dramatically" escalated the crisis in Syria lost steam Thursday when the State Department acknowledged that the helicopters she accused Moscow of sending were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Assad regime.

The claim had complicated the Obama administration's larger goals for Syria and U.S.-Russia relations before a key meeting of the nations' two leaders.

In answering a question at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday, Clinton omitted the detail that the helicopters were not new when she said the U.S. was "concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria."

Russian choppers heading to Syria are refurbished, U.S. admits - World - CBC News