Russia denounces Western bids to politicize humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria

Russia has strongly condemned efforts by a number of Western countries to politicize delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria for the sake of their own interests, saying such efforts violate the Arab country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The situation in Syria has been changing radically six years after authorization for a mechanism to bring life-saving humanitarian aid into Syria due to the fact that the Syrian government has regained control over large parts of the country and effectively contributes to aid delivery to local residents. Russia, therefore, considers it futile to extend the temporary and urgent cross-border mechanism for humanitarian aid delivery into Syria infinitely,” said a statement late on Wednesday by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

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The statement added that deliberations seen during the June 11 session of the United Nations Security Council clearly revealed the discrepancy among some Western states concerning respect for principles of the international humanitarian law and highlighted their attempts to exploit the humanitarian aid mechanism as well as unilateral coercive measures aimed at increasing the sufferings of Syrian people.

The Russian Foreign Ministry finally hoped that the cross-border mechanism would not be politicized, and that humanitarian aids are delivered to all Syrians in coordination with the Damascus government.

Separately, Russian Permanent Envoy to the United Nations Office in Geneva Gennady Gatilov told Russian-language daily broadsheet newspaper Izvestia that “the Americans and their allies actively seek to take advantage of the mechanism for humanitarian aid delivery into Syria in order to achieve their own political goals there.”

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“The goal is, in fact, to undermine the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, particularly through creating political and economic preferences for areas not controlled by Damascus. It is well known that militants from anti-government groups are in charge there,” Gatilov noted.

“By pursuing such a policy, the West clearly seeks to continue providing support to militants active in areas that the legitimate [Syrian] government doesn’t control, with an eye on annexing these territories. Illegal and unilateral sanctions are also being used as a tool to achieve this goal since they continue to worsen the living conditions of Syrians,” the diplomat underlined.

Gatilov emphasized that Russia would steadily oppose such a politicized agenda, which is against the UN Charter.

On Monday, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia condemned the exploitation of the cross-border mechanism for aid deliveries to Syria by some members of the UN Security Council, and their disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

Russian UN envoy slams exploitation of aid delivery mechanism for Syria

Russia’s UN ambassador slams the exploitation of the cross-border mechanism for aid deliveries to Syria to infringe upon the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Terrorist organizations positioned in Idlib use the humanitarian aid as a tool to exert pressure on civilian residents, and gain advantages. There is direct and indirect evidence for that,” SANA quoted Nebenzia as saying in a statement carried by Russian RIA Novosti news agency at the time.

He added, “Moreover, some foreign parties exploit the mechanism of the cross-border aid deliveries to Syria in a way that threatens secession of a number of areas from the rest of the country.”

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