MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Militants in eastern Aleppo limited local resident’s access to medication, large amounts of which were kept at the extremist-controlled warehouses, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"When attempts were being made to blow the events in Aleppo out of proportion, particularly during the operation to free its eastern part, a large number of facts emerged proving the effectiveness of the steps taken by the Syrian government troops supported by the Russian Aerospace Force and military advisers. These facts refuted the groundless accusations of violating international humanitarian law," Lavrov pointed out.
"Here are two examples," the Russian top diplomat went on to say. "One of them concerns the constant wailing about the need to open access to the terrorist-controlled part of Aleppo in order to deliver medicine and medical equipment, for, as we were told, not a single pill had remained there." "However, when eastern Aleppo was liberated, a large amount of medication as well as various kinds of medical equipment was found at the militant-controlled warehouses," Lavrov stressed.
"They were denying civilians’ access to these supplies," the Russian foreign minister said. "We provided this information to representatives of the World Health Organization [WHO] in Syria and also informed the WHO headquarters." According to Lavrov, Russia demanded that "the United Nations Security Council explain why a tantrum was thrown if the WHO knew for sure that there was no shortage of medicine," he stressed. "All wailers suddenly became silent," Lavrov added.
The second fact the Russian top diplomat mentioned refers to accusations against Russia "of committing military crimes and violating international humanitarian law during the operation to liberate Aleppo." "They demanded that we cooperate with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] while we have been cooperating with the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent from the very beginning," Lavrov emphasized. "A representative of the ICRC has praised our cooperation with the organization in eastern Aleppo."
"Those who claim to be the global community, are biased and seek to reach other goals rather than solve the Syrian crisis through political and diplomatic means. They actually aim at changing the regime like it was done in Libya," the Russian foreign minister said. "In Libya’s case, they rejected the opportunity to arrange a direct dialogue between the government and the opposition because they needed Gaddafi’s head." "An obsession with revenge never did anybody any good, be it revenge against Gaddafi, Hussain or Assad," Lavrov concluded.