MOSCOW, September 26. /ITAR-TASS/. The statistics presented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says the surge of refugee flows over first six months of the current year was provoked by the armed conflicts initiated by the US and Western countries, director of the Military-Political Research Center at the Moscow Foreign Relations Institute Alexey Podberezkin told ITAR-TASS.
Within the six months, the number of refugees in the world grew by 24% year-on-year, and by the yearend it may reach 700,000, the UN’s report reads. The growing number of refugees would be a record of recent two decades - after the war in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In number of refugees, Syria tops the list; it is followed by Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It is quite clear why the three countries of the Middle East are on top of the list. The answer is obvious: the longer the US and its allies continue the aggression against sovereign countries, the more people have to leave their homes for secure places,” the expert said.
“The forecast in the UN’s next report will reflect another due growth of 30-40% against the present report. The Pentagon’s air strikes in Syria, where Washington is targeting facilities of the Islamic State, have provoked many thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring Turkey,” he said.
“The events in Ukraine, which the US and the European Union have pushed towards the coup and the civil war in the eastern regions, make people search for shelter in Russia. About 840,000 Ukrainian nationals are staying in Russia now, and every third refugee wants to obtain the Russian citizenship and remain in Russia forever.”
“Another reason for the growing flow of refugees from war-seized countries is that shelling and armed conflicts are killing civilians. While only several years ago, most victims in armed conflicts were the military, in the present-time wars, the victims among civilians are twice or three times more than losses in killed military,” the expert said.
“The US military doctrine says destroyed should be not only the enemy’s military facilities but also infrastructure, thus causing mass killing of civilians and the flight of civilians to other countries. This character of a military doctrine may be compared with behavior of a bull in a china shop.”
“At the same time, major expenses to settle refugees and to cover their social allowances are covered by accepting countries and the UN special funds. The US is not concerned about expenses for refugees though the country. It is the initiator of aggressions against several sovereign states without sanctions from the UN Security Council, or a catalyst of civil wars.”
“Washington is interested in a geopolitical result only, and the US sidesteps responsibility for consequences of its armed missions onto the international community. The country finances very reluctantly the UN special funds, including that of the High Commissioner for Refugees,” he said.
“The UN allocates to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees only funds for the staff. In order to be able to support refugees, the Office collects funds by calling on donors - countries, corporations and people - to donate money,” the Office’s representative in Russia Galina Negrustuyeva told ITAR-TASS.
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