The US continues to destabilize the situation in Trans-Euphrates by encouraging separatism and supplying weapons, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday.
"Russia and Turkey are guarantors of maintaining the cessation of hostilities in northeastern Syria in accordance with the 2019 memorandum," the Kremlin spokesman recalled. According to him, "everyone knows that the activities of the United States, which continues to actively, persistently encourage separatism by providing comprehensive assistance to Kurdish quasi-state structures, including the supply of weapons to them, remain a destabilizing factor in the situation in Trans-Euphrates."
Ushakov said that at a meeting in Tehran on July 19, Russian, Iranian and Turkish presidents Vladimir Putin, Ebrahim Raisi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan "will discuss a set of joint measures in order to achieve a final and long-term settlement in Syria." He noted that "special attention will be paid to the normalization of the situation in the areas outside the control of the Syrian government in Idlib and Trans-Euphrates."
"In order to normalize the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, as you know, the implementation of the Russian-Turkish Sochi memorandum of 2018 and its additional protocol of 2020 continues, which provides, among other things, for the organization of joint patrolling of the area by Russian and Turkish military personnel," the aide to the Russian leader recalled.
"As for Turkey's plans to conduct a new operation in northern Syria against Kurdish formations, this issue will be discussed," Ushakov said. "The Russian principled position is that we oppose any action that violates the basic principle of the Syrian settlement, which is enshrined in the relevant [UN Security Council] resolutions and in the decisions of the Astana format, which is respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria," the Kremlin representative pointed out.
Humanitarian aid to Syria
Ushakov said that the US and its allies continue to politicize the issue of humanitarian aid to Syria and fail to fulfill their commitments. According to him, the humanitarian issue will be discussed at a meeting between Putin, Raisi and Erdogan.
"The US and its allies continue to politicize the issue of humanitarian aid to Syria, for the past year they have not fulfilled their commitments to support projects for the early restoration of basic social and economic infrastructure in Syria, as well as the easing of sanctions, although all relevant understandings were reached a year ago and recorded in UN Security Council Resolution 2585 on cross-border mechanism," stated the Kremlin's representative.
"Taking into account numerous appeals to us regarding the preservation of the cross-border mechanism for delivering aid to Idlib, Russia once again compromised and supported Security Council resolution 2642 on July 12 to extend its validity for six months in order to give another chance to the parties to fulfill their obligations," Ushakov recalled.
He drew attention to the fact that it was proposed to extend the mechanism for one year. "But we accepted only for six months and once again stressed that, of course, we are against any other extensions on this subject and that our position will be stated more categorically next time," the Russian leader's aide pointed out. "We believe that the cross-border mechanism in general is a temporary and emergency measure that should be curtailed because it violates international humanitarian law and, very importantly, Syrian sovereignty itself," Ushakov said.
Speaking about the topics of the upcoming Tehran summit, the Russian presidential aide said that "the heads of states will consider in detail the steps on the humanitarian track of the settlement." "The socio-economic situation in Syria is extremely difficult and the illegal unilateral Western sanctions against Damascus have had a serious negative impact," the Kremlin spokesman stated.
He noted that "in accordance with the decision of the UN Security Council and within the framework of the Astana process, work is being done to create favorable conditions for the return of Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons to places of permanent residence."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: anjči/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS