MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says there is a connection between Russian embassy shelling in Damascus and Washington’s threats.
"We see a connection between this terrorist attack and the veiled threats to Russia that we heard from Washington the day before that," she said. "It is noteworthy that the attack came against the backdrop of discussions on possible deliveries of man-portable air defense systems and other kinds of modern military hardware to the combatants. It seems, our Western partners forget that Jabhat al-Nusra, or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham as it has been calling itself after its "rebranding", as well as Jund al-Aqsa, Ahrah al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam and other similar groups are all Al-Qaeda offshoots while Al-Qaeda carried out horrible terrorist attacks in the US 15 years ago."
The West doesn't seem to care about the humanitarian situation in Syria and is trying to shield the militants of Jabhat al-Nusra from strikes, Russia’s Foreign Ministry official spokeswoman assumes:
"The situation in Syria remains tense. The situation in the north of the country, primarily in Aleppo, is particularly difficult," the diplomat stated.
During the weekly briefing the spokeswoman noted that the armed units of the opposition and the government bodies created by them, the so-called Aleppo local council, continue to hamper the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in eastern Aleppo:
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"We believe that militants’ foreign patrons should have long joined efforts to tackle the issue. It is imperative that they exert the necessary influence on them and their commanders."
"In the meantime, we see that the Western countries do not take care about the humanitarian situation but seek to protect Al-Nusra and affiliated groups," Zakharova told reporters.
"And, speaking frankly, not to just protect, but to directly shield them from strikes."
Is UK losing control?
Unsubstantiated accusations of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. targeting Russia’s action in Syria indicate that London is losing control over the situation, Zakharova has said.
Zakharova referred to a recent interview, in which Boris Johnson maintained that London had evidence of Russia’s ‘double tap’ bombing raids, in which they allegedly "drop one bomb and then they wait for the aid workers to come out, civilian people pulling the injured from the rubble, and then five minutes later they drop another bomb".
"If you are accusing the Russian Federation so outright, what prevents you from supplying in the same outright manner respective materials - satellite and geolocation data, any materials that can substantiate your claims?" the diplomat asked.
"Decent people first present facts and proof and then accuse, not vice versa," she added. "You must realize that the more such statements that are not substantiated by facts you make, the clearer it becomes that you are losing control over the situation in the region. All develops under a different scenario, and we hear these accusations," she added.
"Diplomacy is about search for solutions and not about making the situation more difficult," she summed up.
In an interview published by British The Sun on October 1, Boris Johnson said "The world’s attitude towards Russia has been hardening and I think people now believe that Russia is in danger of becoming a pariah nation".
He said the UK and the US were looking at "aa range of options" to put pressure on Russia to change its position in Syria.
The Sun said it understands "that includes all UK officials boycotting the 2018 World Cup, which Russia is hosting"
On South Korea
The expediency of military drills involving the US, South Korean and UK Air Forces on November 4-10 amid a complex situation on the Korean peninsula causes doubts, Zakharova told reporters.
"The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Korea announced plans to hold tactical flight drills of the South Korean, US and UK Air Forces".
"We won’t go into details about how expedient and justified this Air Force training is in this very uneasy and, better to say, explosive situation in the region but we believe that in these conditions each step should be verified and multiply thought about as well as the consequences of these steps," the spokeswoman said.