ALANYA /Turkey/, December 1. /TASS/. Washington has suffered utter failure in attempts to separate the moderate Syrian opposition from terrorists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"The task the Americans once pledged to cope with - to separate the moderate opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra has remained unresolved. This issue now has to be dealt with in retrospect. That criticism addressed to us has been eased reflects the Western counterparts have realized that the policy they had been conducting along these lines was doomed to fail."
About the western response to the liberation of eastern Aleppo Lavrov said that "they have gone quieter somewhat lately."
"They must’ve realized that the situation in eastern Aleppo is in no way different from the situation in Iraq’s Mosul," Lavrov believes. "The West is currently urging civilians to leave Mosul, because the city has to be cleared of terrorists. The same task - that of recapturing Aleppo from terrorists - faces the Syrian army we support."
"While urging civilians to leave Mosul, thus creating an opportunity to do away with the terrorists, our Western counterparts kept telling us all the time: ‘Why do you call on peaceful civilians to leave eastern Aleppo?’" Lavrov recalled. "A double standard is quite obvious. In either case terrorists in Iraq’s Mosul and in Syria’s Aleppo use civilians as a human shield. This is evident to all unbiased onlookers."
"But we’ve helped the Syrian authorities upset terrorists’ attempts to block the exit of civilians from eastern Aleppo and even the exit of militants who were prepared to quit positions where Jabhat al-Nusra is in the commanding position," Lavrov said. "Many hundreds of civilians have managed to get out, including 500 militants from various groups that have broken with Jabhat al-Nusra.".