MOSCOW, December 5./TASS/. A draft resolution on humanitarian situation in eastern Aleppo that the UN Security Council will vote on later on Monday runs counter to the moves coordinated by Russia and the US, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary circulated on Monday.
As proposed by the US, Russian and American experts are expected to shortly get down to work in Geneva, the ministry reminds. Their work "aims at a full withdrawal of all gunmen from the eastern part of the city, which Russia has been seeking since long," the ministry said.
The experts are also expected "to coordinate the routes and timeframe of the withdrawal of all militants. As soon as this happens, a ceasefire will be put in place to begin evacuating them," the ministry said.
Thus, putting to vote the above mentioned draft resolution by some members of the UN Security Council "is a provocative move, undermining Russian-American efforts".
"This draft resolution is not about the withdrawal of all gunmen, but about an immediate ceasefire, while militants in eastern Aleppo are given ten days to decide whether they are ready to be part of the ceasefire or not," the ministry explained.
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"There is no doubt that such a ten-day pause that the co-authors of the project would want to generously offer to the militants, would be used, as it was the case in the past, for regrouping, replenishing extremists’ manpower and resources and thus would prevent efforts to liberate eastern Aleppo from them, prolonging people’s sufferings," it said.
"Given the current development of the events, the above draft resolution is counterproductive," the commentary said. "If those who are more interested in stirring up tensions in media do resolve to put it to vote, we will proceed from the fact that it cannot be of any use and will be inconsistent with the approaches that are coordinated between Moscow and Washington," the commentary said.
On Monday, the UN Security Council will consider the draft resolution demanding to stop fighting in Aleppo. The draft resolution was put forward by Egypt, Spain and New Zealand worked on the document.