UNITED NATIONS, February 27. /TASS/. Stabilization of the situation in Syria in the long-term perspective is impossible without elimination of the terrorist threat on the country’s territory, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday at a UN Security Council meeting.
"We are proceeding from the fact that long-term stabilization in Syria is impossible without elimination of the terrorist threat there," Gatilov said.
He said this envisions the necessity to reliably block all arteries supplying terrorists.
Gatilov underscored that the regime of the ceasefire approved by the UN Security Council resolution, which took effect at 00-00 Damascus Time, does not cover the Islamic State (banned in Russia) and other terrorist organizations.
"All arteries supplying them should be reliably blocked," he said.
The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted Resolution 2268, which demands that hostilities be terminated at midnight February 27, 2016. The resolution notes that the Syrian government troops and opposition groups accepted the conditions of the ceasefire regime, and now should adhere to their commitments.
Gatiloiv said the ceasefire regime in Syria should be observed rigorously and without any preliminary conditions.
According to UN statistics, fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has killed over 220,000 people and displaced millions since its start in 2011. Gangs of militants making part of various armed formations, the most active of them being the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, fight government troops.
Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, which are banned in Russia, on September 30, 2015, on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Targets of the Russian aircraft include terrorists’ gasoline tankers and oil refineries.
Russia’s aircraft have made thousands of sorties since the start of the operation in Syria.