Russia seeks UN condemnation of Syrian oil sale by terrorist groups

Russia is asking the UN Security Council to condemn Syrian oil sale by terrorists and to take “necessary measures” to prevent it.

According to the Voice of Russia, a draft presidential statement distributed to council members and obtained by AP expresses “grave concern” at the seizure of oilfields in Syria by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations.

Draft presidential statement says that export or import of crude oil without authorization of a sovereign state is illegal.

Presidential statements are a step to resolutions and must be approved by all council members. Diplomats said council experts would possibly meet Tuesday to discuss the draft.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that as terrorist groups advance, there is a real chance of a terrorist state springing up from Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo to Iraq’s capital Baghdad.

Moscow criticizes US for planned funding of armed “opposition” in Syria

The recent White House request for Congressional approval for allocating 500 million US dollar for training allegedly “moderate” Syrian armed opposition groups is “more than strange” in light of Sunday’s proclamation by gunmen of a so-called Islamic state in parts of Syria and Iraq, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. “We urge our partners in the international community to make careful and objective assessments of the current dangerous developments in Syria and Iraq, abandon the practice of double standards and avoid moves that would lead not to the deterrence but, on the contrary, to the escalation of terrorist and extremist threats in the turbulent Middle East region,” ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.

“Against this backdrop, the recent request of the Washington administration that Congress allocate an additional 500 million US dollar for training and equipping those whom the White House calls “moderate” groups of the Syrian armed opposition looks more than strange. Given the real state of affairs “on the ground,” all these sizable funds, if they are allocated, will effectively be used to strengthen the terrorist “caliphate” proclaimed by the so-called  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),” Lukashevich said.

“It is clear that, since the dominant role among the anti-government forces in Syria has been secured by terrorist and extremist groups, it is they that take hold of the best armaments and the best-trained militants,” he said. “The first few days of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan have been marked by an event that has attracted general attention.

On June 29, the media reported that the collective leadership of the terrorist group called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had decided to change its name to the Islamic State,” the spokesman said. “Simultaneously, the creation of a theocratic state was proclaimed, the “Islamic caliphate,” with ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becoming its “caliph” with the name Ibrahim. Thereby, the “jihadists” have thrown down a challenge not only to extremist groups that rival them that disguise themselves with Islamic slogans but also to Islamic states.

Analysts have immediately assessed what has happened as “the beginning of a new era of the global jihad,”” Lukashevich said. “What attitudes exist in the proclaimed “caliphate” is clear, for example, from the fact that the “jihadists” have not simply killed but also crucified nine people for the past few days in the west of Syria alone – one on a charge of corruption and the eight others for membership in other armed groups,” he said.

“Major oil fields in Iraq and Syria have ended up under the control of the ‘caliphate.’ The jihadists also possess significant arsenals of armaments. Presumably they enjoy the sympathies of influential sponsors who provide them with generous financing, supplies of weapons, and logistic support,” cites him interfax.

H.M