MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian lawmaker, has excoriated unfounded US accusations that Moscow reneged on implementing the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2401 on ending combat actions in Syria.
"The US statement alleging that Russia has been turning a blind eye to fulfilling the UN Security Council Resolution on the situation in Eastern Ghouta is another unproven lie not backed by any facts. Russia always adheres to its international commitments and does not back away from any agreements," said Slutsky, who chairs the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee.
Meanwhile, Washington’s accusations have become a favorite tool for justifying its own "destructive policy in the Middle East," the lawmaker noted.
"The US takes advantage of the principle of Joseph Goebbels, a German Nazi politician and propaganda minister of the Third Reich, who said that if a lie is big enough, people will eventually come to believe it," he stressed.
"The true US goal in this situation is shaking off its own responsibility for the deaths among the civilian population killed by terrorists of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia), and the US played a role in its creation," the legislator pointed out.
White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders claimed on Sunday that Russia had ignored the terms of the UN resolution on ending combat actions in Syria and that led to the deaths of civilians in Eastern Ghouta.
The sixth humanitarian pause began in Eastern Ghouta at 09:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time) on Sunday. Terrorists continue to hold local residents as human shields, not letting them cross the humanitarian corridor. Only two children have managed to break free from the besieged area. On Saturday, militants unleashed sniper fire at the humanitarian corridor, wounding three civilians.