MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Moscow was prepared to maintain the Cross-Border Assistance Mechanism for Syria in its current form but the West preferred to politicize the issue, rejecting a Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
"Russia was ready to maintain the Cross-Border Assistance Mechanism in its present form (one checkpoint for six months) and extend the relevant [UN] resolution. However, the Russian draft was blocked, which once again proved that the US and its allies do not care about the suffering of the Syrian people and have no desire to help them; there’s nothing but an explicitly cynical, hypocritical drive to speculate on people’s needs while actually aiming at achieving some self-interested, mercenary political goals," the statement reads.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the UN Security Council had failed to reach a compromise on extending a resolution on international humanitarian assistance to Syria, including the Cross-Border Assistance Mechanism for the delivery of aid to Idlib without Damascus’ consent, which had expired on July 10. According to the ministry, the West insisted only on expanding the cross-border mechanism, which it had used "to undermine Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and provide supplies to blacklisted terrorists in Idlib." "Therefore, an actual ultimatum was put forward to extend the Cross-Border Mechanism for 12 months, while all of Russia’s truly humanitarian wordings were painstakingly redacted from the draft document," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Russia called for providing comprehensive assistance to all Syrians in need throughout the country, without discrimination or preconditions.
"It is an absolute humanitarian imperative - especially amid efforts to overcome the devastating consequences of an earthquake and the coronavirus pandemic - to lift the illegal, unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and the EU, which impede the provision of humanitarian assistance and are in fact a form of collective punishment for millions of Syrians," the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
The ministry also stressed that Moscow had suggested that all these aspects of the issue be covered in the UN Security Council draft resolution but the West simply ignored Russia’s proposals.