MOSCOW, November 8 /TASS/. The so-called local councils operating in eastern Aleppo are playing up to terrorists and are contributing to further bloodshed, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

"The ‘councils’ obstructive stance led to the cancellation of the United Nations humanitarian operation designed to deliver relief aid to eastern Aleppo by using the Castello Road late in August 2016. The recent disruption of medical evacuation from eastern Aleppo is on the ‘councils’ conscience," the diplomat stressed.

"It is clear that all these self-proclaimed ‘authorities’ are far from representing the people of eastern Aleppo whom the militants have practically taken hostage," Zakharova went on to say.

"What is worse is that in a bid to fulfill the orders of their sponsors, these leaders, who are hypocritically speaking on behalf of peaceful civilians, are playing up to terrorists and the most radically-minded part of illegal armed units and are leading things to further bloodshed and ongoing human suffering," Zakharova said.

"The illegal armed units have given complete control over life-sustaining issues in eastern Aleppo such as electricity supplies, school education and bakeries’ work to the ‘councils’. The ‘councils’ are using this sensitive humanitarian instrument as a tool to make the local population loyal," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman noted.

Zakharova explained referring to the incoming reports there were two so-called self-government bodies. "One of them is the Aleppo Provincial Council, which is located in Gazientap, Turkey, and is headed by Muhammed Fadila; the second one is the Aleppo City Council headed by Brita Haji Hasan. The entire leadership of the Aleppo City Council is sitting in the Atarib populated locality approximately 20 kilometers to the southwest of Aleppo," Zakharova stressed.

Initially, according to reports, they used to receive financial aid from Qatar. "Now, their main sponsors include the United States, Britain, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Scandinavian countries," the Russian diplomat said.