Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Vienna, SANA – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Monday that Russia hopes that the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will convene a new round of Syrian-Syrian dialogue without preconditions.
“There are problems that we trying to solve together in cooperation with the Syrian government and we are counting on that de Mistura will call for the upcoming round of the Syrian-Syrian dialogue and we urge him to do so as soon as possible,” Gatilov told Sputnik news agency.
“If we are talking seriously about humanitarian pauses, which we are not against in principle, we must first have solid guarantees that they will be used to evacuate civilians from besieged districts of eastern Aleppo… It has not been the case so far,” he said.
The Russian diplomat pointed out that up until now the announced humanitarian pauses haven’t been used for their intended purpose, as terrorists have used these pauses to prepare for more attacks.
Gatilov noted that the Senior Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria Jan Egeland has failed in using humanitarian pauses in Aleppo to evacuate civilians, adding that the UN officials have failed to take full advantage of the humanitarian pauses in Syria.
He added that the pressure put on Damascus and Moscow through the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to make certain decisions in the context of the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo is unacceptable, pointing out that these attempts are politicized.
Manar al-Freih / Hazem Sabbagh
