Moscow Urges International Community, Human Rights Organizations to Condemn Killing of Russian Medics in Syria

MOSCOW- Two Russian medical specialists were killed and another injured when terrorists shelled a mobile military hospital in Syria’s Aleppo, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday, calling on the international community and human rights organizations to condemn the attack.

One Russian medic was killed immediately at the Russian military mobile hospital set up in western Aleppo, and another died later in a hospital after succumbing to her injuries, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The doctors are now fighting for the life of Russian pediatrician, who was also severely injured in the attack.

 “Today, between 12:21 and 12:30pm [local time], a medical center of the Russian Defense Ministry’s mobile hospital in Aleppo was shelled by the militants during the reception time,” ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists, according to RT.

Some local residents attending medical appointments were also injured during the shelling that targeted one of the field hospitals set up in the government held part of the city, the ministry added.

“We demand that the international community, as well as the International Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies, Doctors without Borders (MSF), and other international organizations strongly condemn this deliberate killing of Russian military medics that were fulfilling their duty of care by treating Aleppo residents,” Konashenkov said, adding that the crime would be investigated, and all those responsible would be brought to justice.

RT has requested comment on the shelling of the Russian hospital from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, and Amnesty International.

In response to a request from RT, Amnesty International said it is trying to check whether it is “able to comment on this.”

“But usually if we have not documented and been able to verify details for ourselves it can be tricky for us to provide a comment on specific attacks,” the emailed response reads.

After the shelling of the hospital, an RT crew with a producer from RT Arabic, Somar Abudiab, arrived at the scene. They were filming when the shelling resumed and Abudiab was injured by a shell fragment.

The Russian Defense Ministry attributes the blame for the hospital shelling to “terrorists and their patrons in the US, the UK and France.”

“It is beyond doubt that the shelling was conducted by the ‘opposition’ militants. Moscow understands who gave the militants the coordinates of the Russian hospital right at the moment when it started working,” Konashenkov said.

“The hospital was far from the frontline. Now it’s totally destroyed,” Vladimir Savchenko, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria told journalists earlier.

“Full responsibility for the killing and injuring of our medics, who were treating children in Aleppo, lies not only with the actual perpetrators [of this crime], that is with the ‘opposition’ militants. The blood of our military personnel is on the hands of the people who ordered the hit … [on the hands] of the terrorists’ patrons from the US, the UK, France and other terrorist sympathizers,” Konashenkov said.

H.M