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Russia’s actions in Syria help stabilize region, says Defense Ministry

According to the Ministry spokesman, in order to improve the situation in Syria’s border areas, "additional Russian military police units are being deployed to the area and field hospitals are being established to provide medical assistance to civilians"

© AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. A series of measures taken by Russia in Syria made it possible to stabilize the region, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Tuesday.

"A series of measures that Russia has been taking made it possible to significantly stabilize the situation in the region," he said, following Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement that the United States and Russia failed to do what was necessary to ensure the withdrawal of Kurdish units from the Turkish-Syrian border.

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Russia expands humanitarian aid to northern Syria — reconciliation center

According to the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, a memorandum of understanding, signed by the Russian and Turkish presidents in Sochi, "paved the way for an early disengagement of forces." Konashenkov specified that in order to improve the situation in Syria’s border areas, "additional Russian military police units are being deployed to the area and field hospitals are being established to provide medical assistance to civilians." In addition, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria is sending humanitarian aid to civilians on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

On October 9, Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria, codenaming it Operation Peace Spring, with the Turkish Armed Forces and the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army carrying it out. The Turkish government claimed that its goal was to clear the border area of what it calls ‘terrorists’ (Ankara’s broad label of the Kurdish forces) and establish a 30 km-long buffer zone in Syria’s north, where over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey would resettle. Damascus slammed the operation as aggression, and the international community condemned Ankara’s move.

On October 22, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey signed a memorandum on joint actions to resolve the situation in northeastern Syria. Russian military police units and Syrian troops were deployed to areas adjacent to the zone of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring. Kurdish units were given 150 hours to pull out of the 30-km zone along the Syria-Turkey border. The withdrawal was completed by October 29 and on November 1, Russian military police and Turkish troops launched joint patrols in areas east of the Euphrates River.

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