LONDON, August 21. /TASS/. The UK is not interested in the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland and the restoration of the country and continues to provide help only to those Syrian regions which are controlled by the Jihadists and the opposition, the Russian Embassy in London said on Tuesday.
"The UK does not show any interest in the repatriation of the Syrian refugees. This is likely to be due to the desire to manipulate those vulnerable people in order to continue pressure on the Syrian government," the diplomatic mission noted.
"Apparently, refugees are meant to be kept under the Western influence. Such obstructive policy of the UK government is in contradiction with the aspirations of the Syrian people, their wish for the soonest possible return to a peaceful living in their homeland."
That said, the Russian diplomats believe that sooner or later the British authorities will have to change their position, otherwise "the UK risks to be left out of the Syrian peace settlement."
"Unfortunately, the UK continues to follow the overall pattern of Western policy of obstruction that Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov was talking about yesterday at the press-conference following the meeting with his Lebanese colleague Gebran Bassil. He said that the ‘US was making a contribution to Syria’s restoration; however, it was limited to the areas occupied by the opposition groups that were not always constructive.’ Unfortunately, these words are fully applicable to the UK participation in that process. We have to acknowledge that London still prefers to provide assistance only to the Syrian regions under control of the militant opposition and jihadists groups," the embassy added.