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Russian diplomat refutes allegations about bargaining on Aleppo blockade

"Saying that the American side is seeking to bargain one thing for another in this concrete situation would be a blunt simplification of what is really going on," Sergey Ryabkov said
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov Artyom Korotayev/TASS
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov
© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has refuted US media allegations that the United States is trying to reach an agreement with Russia on lifting blockade of Aleppo in exchange for separating terrorists from the Syrian opposition.

"The essence of the agreements that are currently being worked on is not what the publication (The Washington Post) reported," he told journalists on Monday. "The content of these agreements has a confidential character, and the generally accepted method of working on any agreements in diplomacy is as follows: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, let alone such difficult issue as the settlement of the situation around Aleppo."

So, in his words, "saying that the American side is seeking to bargain one thing for another in this concrete situation would be a blunt simplification of what is really going on."

The Washington Post said earlier citing sources in the US Administration that "outgoing Secretary of State John F. Kerry is engaged in a furious if implausible diplomatic effort to strike a deal with Russia to end the siege of Aleppo" in exchange for separating the Syrian opposition from the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham terrorist organization (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra).