Italian journalist: Russia doing everything possible to maintain truce in Syria

ROME, March 3. /TASS/. Russia is doing its utmost to maintain the ceasefire in Syria, Italian journalist Cristina Giuliano, a correspondent of the Askanews agency, told TASS on Thursday. She was among the journalists who came under artillery fire near Syria’s Latakia on March 1.

"We must admit that Russia is doing everything possible and very often impossible to make sure that this truce holds," Giuliano said.

"I was shooting the Islamists’ graffiti on the wall when we heard the first explosions. In all, we counted seven or eight of them. I hid behind a wall until an armored personnel carrier came, and we moved to safety using it as a shield," the journalist recalled. She noted that the Russian military who accompanied the group had acted impeccably. "The artillery bombardment continued, and, in spite of the unexpected situation, the Russians remained emotionless. It was they who saved us. Your country can be proud of such people," the journalist added.

Giuliano herself was not injured in the attack. According to her, the shelling of the group of journalists indicates that there are forces in Syria that seek to disrupt the truce. "The situation is difficult. Bringing peace to Syria is a very tough task," she said.

Head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in the Syrian Arab Republic Lieutenant-General Sergei Kuralenko earlier said that a group of foreign and Russian journalists came under large-caliber artillery fire on March 1 in the settlement of Kinsibba. The fire was delivered from the village of Bdama and the Syrian-Turkish border. Overall, eight large-caliber artillery shells were fired. They exploded some 150-450 meters from the journalists. According to Kuralenko, "as a result of the shelling, four journalists (from China, Canada, Bulgaria and Russia) sustained injuries."