UNITED NATIONS, January 9. /TASS/. The West is interested in preserving the cross-border aid mechanism in Syria as a tool of political pressure on Damascus, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday.
"So far, we see that Western delegations continue to approach this topic opportunistically and are not going to implement UN Security Council resolutions 2585 and 2642 in good faith. They don’t care about the needs of ordinary Syrians," he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council after it unanimously passed a resolution extending the cross-border aid mechanism in Syria until July 10. "All our Western colleagues are interested in is keeping the cross-border aid mechanism in place as an instrument of political pressure on Damascus, and supporting terrorists from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), who need supplies via this mechanism."
"Instead of being honest about this situation and trying to improve it, our Western colleagues in the Security Council are focusing on inflating the myth that supplies via the cross-border aid mechanism cannot be replaced by supplies across the contact lines, which do not violate Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," he noted.
According to the Russian diplomat, Western delegations, "along with representatives from UN agencies playing along with them, are trying to muddy the real statistics of humanitarian assistance." "Security Council members were able to see these ‘diversionary tactics’ during the three rounds of informal interactive dialogues. Even they could not conceal the fact that serious geographical imbalances are seen in the implementation of projects for Syria’s early restoration," Nebenzya said. "Facts speak for themselves - half of the aid goes to Idlib and only 35% - to the territories where the bulk of Syria’s population lives. It is a vivid illustration of the Western countries’ politicized approach to the topic of humanitarian assistance."
He stressed that although Russia supported the resolution, its position that the mechanism "does not benefit the Syrian people who, along with efficient humanitarian assistance, expect the Security Council to demonstrate respect for Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty" has not changed.