Lavrov to de Mistura: Politicization of humanitarian issues in Syria by some UN officials should be stopped

Moscow – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed on Wednesday the need to stop the politicization of humanitarian issues in Syria by some UN staff regarding the publishing of false information about the humanitarian situation in Aleppo and exploiting this information to inflame the hostile rhetoric against the Syrian government, SANA reported.

A statement issued by Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov stressed during a phone call with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on the need to immediately stop the politicization of humanitarian issues.

“Instead of the attempts to make unilateral judgments about the situation with civilians in Aleppo, the relevant services of the UN Secretariat and some UN Security Council members instigating them should join the real delivery of humanitarian aid to that and other districts of Syria – something that employees of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides have long been doing in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO),” statement said.

The statement noted that during the phone call, the two sides continued exchanging views on the joint efforts on launching an efficient political process on settling the crisis in Syria, adding that de Mistura backed the results of the meetings of the foreign and defense ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey on December 20 in Moscow.

De Mistura said the UN was ready to assist their implementation, including “the preparation of agreements between the government of Syria and the armed opposition on ceasefire and holding talks in Astana,” the ministry said.