MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Part of the funds US provides ostensibly for aid to Syria in reality is used to fund the armed opposition and stage more provocations, including some involving chemical weapons, the chief of Russia’s National Defense Command Center, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev told the 8th Moscow International Security Conference.
Part of the funds [provided by the United States for Syria] is spent on supporting groups hostile to the Syrian authorities and on further provocations, including those involving chemical weapons, which White Helmets members stage from time to time, Mizintsev said.
He pointed out that the United States was acting exclusively in its own interests and exerting strong pressure on the distribution of funds being provided.
"As a result the Syrian government and, consequently, the people of Syria get nothing of that aid," he said.
Moreover, Washington refuses to recognize Damascus’s efforts for putting life back on the peace track and continues to destabilize both the situation in the country and the region and Syria’s legitimate authorities.
"An example of this can be seen in the 55-kilometer zone illegally occupied by the United States around Al Tanf, where US-sponsored heavily armed militants under the control of Mahavir as-Saura (one of the brigades of the so-called Free Syrian Army - TASS) rule the roost and prevent the dissolution of the refugee camp Rukban - a hotbed of violence and crime on the Syrian-Jordanian border," Mizintsev said.
The United States finds it ever more difficult to find excuses for its presence in Syrian territory without the proper permission from the country’s government, while its statements about the region’s protection from terrorism do not hold water. The government forces "are capable of resisting any terrorists on their own," he added.