MOSCOW, July 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia is ready to continue the constructive work with the UN Security Council on coordinating a draft resolution on humanitarian aid to Syria, Russia’s Foreign Ministry says.
Russia insists such document should not contain any coercive measures towards the Syrian government, the ministry says.
At the end of May, Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg put forth an initiative on adopting a new draft resolution on Syria within the UN Security Council and determining the improvement of the humanitarian situation as the priority task.
“The draft project envisioned the Security Council’s sanctions on uncontrolled trans-border access of humanitarian cargoes to Syria through adjacent states, namely Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, that would not conform with the UN commitment to Syria’s sovereignty,” the ministry says.
Initially Russia spoke against this step. “Moscow believes that it is necessary to implement the previous UN Security Council resolutions on Syria. The prerequisites have been created: the Syrian government maintains constructive cooperation with international humanitarian agencies. Humanitarian aid is supplied to peaceful civilians to the opposition-controlled areas,” the ministry says.
Russia notes progress “in achieving local reconciliations between government power-yielded structures and the armed opposition”, it adds.
In order to avoid a new spiral of tension and speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians, Russia agreed to take part in coordinating the document. “Russia’s position is that coercive measures and sanctions must be excluded under Article 7 of the UN Charter. Any additional steps should be discussed within the UN Security Council,” the ministry says.
In order to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, Russia “proposed to deploy UN observers on checkpoints of adjacent countries - in Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. It is important for the Syrian government to give consent to the above-mentioned trans-border supplies in compliance with the UN principles”, the ministry says.
“Such mechanism was reflected in UN Security Council Resolution 2139 devoted to the humanitarian situation in Syria,” the ministry says.