Putin: Russia ready to extend humanitarian pause in Aleppo for as long as needed

Moscow – President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that “Russia is prepared to extend the ceasefire in Aleppo for as long as possible.”

President Putin made his remarks following his meeting with the French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the Normandy four talks held in Berlin, SANA reported.

“We informed our colleagues about our intention, the Russian side’s intention to extend, to a possible degree given the situation on the ground, the pause in conducting airstrikes. We are ready to do it up until the point when we face activity from armed groups in Aleppo,” he said.

He expressed hope that the American side would fulfill their promises regarding the separation of “moderate” opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in order to understand how to continue joint efforts.

“I once again reminded our colleagues that Russia proposes to step up work in this sphere on devising and adopting a new constitution, on the basis of which preliminary election may be held and positions of all conflicting parties may be preliminarily coordinated,” Putin said.

General Staff of the Russian army forces announced the expansion of humanitarian pause in Aleppo for three extra hours to help the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UN representatives secure the evacuation of civilians and the wounded from the city.