Polyansky: West leaves Russia no grounds for extending aid mechanism in Syria

Russia has rejected extending the cross-border mechanism for aid delivery to Syria as it violates Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressing that the international community doesn’t exert enough efforts to support reconstruction projects in Syria.

Western countries have no interest in promoting humanitarian assistance in Syria and leave no reasons for Russia to extend the cross-border mechanism for aid transfer, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said at the UN Security Council session on Friday.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that terrorists of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which have been designated as such by the international community, are usurping power and manipulating humanitarian aid, which deliveries can be easily arranged from Damascus, should one wish,” Polyansky said, adding “however, you are not willing to do so, leaving us no reasons to keep the cross-border mechanism in place.”

  “We have told you more than once that in general the discussion about developments in the Idlib and the one-sided attitude of some members of the Security Council have taken way too long,” the diplomat said. “You are trying to preserve at any cost the current status quo, which is highly uncomfortable even for you, without offering any solutions and without meeting halfway Damascus’s legitimate demands. We are not satisfied with this situation.”

The Russian first deputy permanent representative emphasized that Jabhat al-Nusra openly promises not to let humanitarian convoys from Damascus through.

According to Polyansky, the UN is still trying to skirt round “the devastating impact of the illegal unilateral EU and US sanctions on Syria’s economy as well as the international humanitarian assistance to Syria.”

“As a result, ordinary Syrians are held hostage, deprived not only of access to their oil resources but also to agricultural fields that used to provide food for the entire region,” the diplomat said.

“In fact, Washington, which occupies those Syrian lands, has deliberately in a manual mode been sparking a famine in that once food-sufficient country for a long time. In addition, the US Department of the Treasury’s Syria General License 22 issued on May 12 authorizes henceforth access to the areas of northeast and northwest Syria for third-country private investments, de facto making the theft of Syrian grain from Trans-Euphrates legal for Washington,” Tass reported citing Polyansky.

Hamda Mustafa