Damascus-SANA
The Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ambassador in Damascus, Alexander Yefimov, said that the results of the presidential elections fully confirmed the high reputation of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrians' confidence in his leadership, pointing out that Moscow continues its firm approach with support for Syria and its comprehensive assistance to break the siege and rebuild and rebuild.
In an exclusive interview with SANA on the occasion of his country’s National Day, Ambassador Yefimov congratulated the Syrian people on the successful holding of the presidential elections under the current extremely difficult circumstances. He said: I add my voice to the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the voting results fully confirmed the high reputation of President Bashar al-Assad and the confidence of Syrian citizens in the process. Under his leadership aimed at stabilizing the situation in the country as soon as possible and strengthening state institutions, he stressed that Russia views the elections as a Syrian sovereign affair and considers statements issued by some Western capitals about the illegality of the elections even before the end of the electoral campaign as an element of harsh political pressure on the country. Damascus and a new attempt to interfere in Syria's internal affairs with the aim of destabilizing it.
The Russian ambassador stressed that the presidential elections in Syria took place completely in accordance with the requirements of the existing Syrian constitution and national legislation and do not contradict in any way with the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution No. 2254 and other international resolutions based on respect for the sovereignty of Syria, once again emphasizing that no one has the right to dictate to the Syrians. When and under what circumstances should they elect their head of state.
Yefimov added that he saw with his own eyes how the process of expressing the will of the Syrian people took place during his accompaniment by the Russian delegation consisting of members of the two chambers of the Russian Federal Council in addition to the Civil Chamber of Russia. The large number of Syrians who voted for their national leader with blood points.
The Russian ambassador considered that the decision of President al-Assad himself to go with the First Lady to the polling station in Douma is a very important indicator, as Syria's opponents claim that the civilian population there sympathized with the militants previously, while the elections showed unequivocally that these insinuations were absolutely untrue, but on the contrary confirmed The President enjoys the wide support of the population, even in the areas that remained strongholds of terrorists until recently, pointing out that the huge celebrations that the people held with the victory of their president and gathered around him in the hope of achieving peace and stability in the country refute the allegations and accusations of Syria's opponents.
Ambassador Yefimov stressed that his country, in turn, intends to continue to follow its consistent approach in supporting Syria and its comprehensive assistance in rebuilding the destroyed social and economic infrastructure and overcoming the negative repercussions of the war that has been going on for more than ten years.
In response to a question about Russian efforts to break the Western siege imposed on Syria, the Russian ambassador stressed that Russia attaches great importance to efforts to help Damascus break the siege and mitigate the impact of sanctions on it. He said: Even in the circumstances of the diplomatic and economic war being waged against your country, Syria still has many Among the foreign friends and partners in opinion, and I am confident that in fact the countries that are interested in restoring and developing relations with Syria are even greater than what we see now, and when the time comes, they will certainly announce themselves, and we, in turn, will welcome that, explaining that many representatives of international social circles have long understood that The anti-Syrian rhetoric imposed by some Western capitals is based on lies and disinformation and only serves the interests of a very narrow circle of foreign players.
And the Russian ambassador indicated that these particular players are seeking to perpetuate the state of division in the Arab world for the longest possible period and by every means, including preventing the return of Syria to the “Arab House,” but Russia, on the contrary, is convinced that the return of normal relations between Damascus and the Arab countries will benefit the entire Middle East region and will play a role. Very useful in overcoming the crisis in Syria and resolving the social and economic issues that resulted from it. Therefore, the Russian side provides the necessary assistance where possible and appropriate with regard to restoring Syrian relations with Arab countries.
Regarding the aid provided by Moscow to Damascus, Ambassador Yefimov stated that Moscow provides regular and multi-faceted humanitarian assistance to Syria through various channels, including through the United Nations. During his tenure in Damascus, Moscow allocated nearly $40 million to implement various initiatives through United Nations bodies. Whether in the field of health care, education, agriculture, food security, mine risk management and others, while some countries have reduced funding for UN activities here and restricted the use of donor funds to meet the legitimate needs of the Syrian government.
Yefimov added that at the end of May, a laboratory for diagnosing animal diseases was inaugurated in the city of Aleppo, which was severely damaged during the war, and it was restored and equipped with modern equipment by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “FAO”, with funding from Russia, explaining that this laboratory aims to enhance capabilities In the field of animal production, it will contribute significantly to supporting the livelihoods of workers in this sector. It will also allow, along with other FAO projects implemented with Russian funding in Aleppo Governorate, to provide support to about 350,000 people from the governorate’s population, in order to ensure their food security and adequate working conditions, in addition to securing a stable income for them. .
Ambassador Yefimov indicated that Russia is making greater efforts to help Syria within the framework of bilateral cooperation, whether through direct aid from the Russian government, such as a wheat grant, which amounted to 100,000 tons during 2020, or humanitarian aid provided by the Russian military, social and religious organizations, Russian companies and Russian businessmen, explaining that According to some rough estimates, during the past several years, about 150 million dollars were spent annually by Russia on various types of aid for the Syrian people. The Russian military in Syria during the past five years distributed more than 4,500 tons of food, medicines and basic supplies in all parts of the country. almost across the country.
The Russian ambassador added that with Russia's help, nearly 1,000 educational facilities, about 250 medical institutions, and more than 4,800 residential buildings have been reconstructed since 2015, in addition to repairing roads, bridges, electrical network lines, and so on, and Russian doctors have provided medical care to more than 132,000 Syrians, including In it in dangerous and hard-to-reach areas.
Yefimov explained that in 2019, a large group of Syrian children affected by the hostilities traveled to Russia to receive treatment and rehabilitation, and it is expected that this year a rehabilitation center will open in Damascus for Syrians who lost limbs as a result of being hit by mines or explosives, with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church.
As for the Corona epidemic, the Russian ambassador confirms that Moscow stood by Damascus, and in 2020 Syria was supplied with testing devices for the virus, in addition to protective materials, disinfectants, and respirators. Syria was also provided with the “Sputnik V” vaccine, stressing that his country will continue to do so, taking into account the needs of Syria and the possibilities of producing this drug in Russia, which also needs the vaccine today to a very large extent, explaining that the first shipments of the vaccine “Sputnik V” were sent to Syria even when we had not produced sufficient quantities of it to meet our needs in Russia.
On the economic cooperation between the two countries, the Russian ambassador stressed that economic cooperation with Damascus is proceeding normally in general and that despite the Corona pandemic that affected him, “we can adapt to the new difficult circumstances. Reconstruction and operation of facilities and infrastructure projects vital to Syria, and they cannot allow themselves to be cut off from work.”
He added that the trade, economic, scientific and technical relations between Russia and Syria “are in many ways a continuation and development of the support and assistance that our country has provided and continues to provide to Damascus in the military and political fields. linked to the country’s return to a peaceful life and ensuring the stability of the Syrian state against the backdrop of facing severe political and economic pressures on it from abroad.”
Ambassador Yefimov indicated that “among the new elements in economic cooperation is the start of implementation of bilateral commercial contracts for the supply of Russian wheat to Syria,” explaining that since March 2021, 350 thousand tons of it have arrived in Syria and that work is constantly being done to develop new plans and projects within the framework of cooperation. The bilateral relations between the two countries, where these issues were discussed with the Syrian delegation on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, held from 2-5 June 2021, and “all of this will be discussed in detail with our Syrian partners during the next meeting of the Russian-Syrian Joint Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.” We hope that this meeting will take place in the near future.”
In response to a question about the restoration of the Russian Cultural Center's activity in Damascus, Ambassador Yefimov stated that "the resumption of the work of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Damascus is important for all of us," explaining that it was recently decided to name all the Russian cultural centers in the world under the name "Russian House" and that the Russian House in Syria is not working at full capacity for various reasons, including the Corona pandemic, but it regularly holds various events and concerts in addition to educational courses for children and adults in music, dance, fine arts and most importantly the center provides courses in the Russian language and “I am sure that over time new activities will appear.” and interesting in the program of our cultural center in Damascus,” stressing that after the center is fully operational, it will be possible to talk about opening branches of the Russian House in other Syrian cities because many Syrians have a great interest in the Russian language and culture.
At the conclusion of the interview, the Russian ambassador saw that the proposal of the Russian Civil Chamber during its recent visit to Damascus to strengthen relations and social ties between the two countries is very important in order to maintain and develop social relations between the Russian and Syrian peoples, and that bonds of this kind give additional depth and strength to bilateral relations, considering that the initiative came in He said: “We are currently studying with all interest different possibilities regarding their content and activation, as both sides will prepare relevant proposals despite the Corona epidemic and the quarantine that limited opportunities for social and humanitarian contacts, but now we clearly see that in both Russia and Syria there are ambitions strong to make up for what was lost as soon as possible.”
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