MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Militants and forces supporting opposition are hindering the implementation of the humanitarian pause in Syria, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.
"Firstly, these are the militants, including terror groups, who counter the government and are creating problems linked to prioritization of this decision. There are also forces supporting the anti-government opposition in Syria behind it."
The Western countries should "start with themselves" and fulfill the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2401 on a humanitarian pause in Syria, he went on.
"They continue screaming that it is allegedly impossible to implement in Eastern Ghouta what is written down in the Resolution 2401," Ryabkov noted. "The resolution needs to be implemented in full. They should start with themselves. We will constantly repeat to our US and French colleagues: start with yourselves."
Syria and Russia are accused that their policy in Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, or somewhere else has led to a challenging humanitarian situation, the high-ranking diplomat noted.These accusations may be only made by those people "who divide the world under a friend-or-foe principle regardless of what their people do and the methods they use, whether they are terrorists or not, they will still remain friends for these people," he said.
US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert earlier claimed that Moscow was allegedly not committed to the ceasefire in Syria. "They’re not adhering to the ceasefire because they continue to sponsor and back Bashar al-Assad’s government," she said during a press briefing on Tuesday.