Moscow - Sana
The Russian Foreign Ministry affirmed today that western countries have used the mechanism of providing cross-border humanitarian aid as a way to violate Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “According to international humanitarian law, humanitarian aid must be delivered in consultation with the government of the recipient country… The government of the Syrian Arab Republic has formally requested the United Nations to end humanitarian aid operations across borders and within the framework of commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, The international community should take this into consideration and respect this call to the Syrian government, explaining that “based on the foregoing, the Russian side prepared and put to a vote a draft resolution stipulating the extension of the delivery of humanitarian aid through the border crossings in Idlib for a period of only 6 months.”
"Our partners in the West opposed our project in the UN Security Council, guided only by political considerations and not by the needs of the civilian population in Syria, and it is clear to them that the cross-border mechanism was important as a tool to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and not as a means to assist those in need," she added, noting that it was for the same purpose. Coercive measures were imposed against Syria.
The ministry stated that this matter impedes the allocation of the necessary funding for reconstruction in Syria, including homes, schools, hospitals, and drinking water and electricity facilities, which is "necessary to facilitate the return of people displaced by terrorism."
In its statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized Washington's actions to steal and control Syrian oil and maintain its illegal presence in Syrian territory, pointing out that the United States, which is leading an alleged coalition to combat ISIS, “trades Syrian oil illegally within the sight of the entire international community. For this purpose, it and its allies retain With their illegal military presence in Syria. ”
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that such actions "not only constitute a flagrant violation of all the rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the Charter of the United Nations, but are clear evidence of a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries and the politicization of purely humanitarian issues and trade in the needs of civilian citizens against the background of the shameful plunder of their national natural resources" .
On Friday, Russia and China used the veto against a draft resolution in the UN Security Council on the transfer of humanitarian aid to Syria that exploits humanitarian conditions in it and violates its sovereignty, while Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia explained that the Russian draft resolution that was frustrated by Western countries on transferring Humanitarian aid stipulates the extension of the work of the current mechanism to transfer aid for half a year and not for a year as required by the project submitted by Germany, Belgium and Kuwait, indicating that the Russian project provides for the maintenance of two out of the four crossings to transfer aid.