Russian Foreign Ministry: Humanitarian aid to Syria ends up in the hands of militants

30.03.2021, Moscow.

The militants are using Syrian civilians as hostages to get cross-border humanitarian aid, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said at an open video teleconference of the UN Security Council members on March 29.

According to the diplomat, humanitarian aid delivered to northwestern Syria through the cross-border mechanism does not reach the recipients, but instead ends up in the hands of terrorists who demand payment for humanitarian deliveries.

As an example, Vershinin mentioned a clash in Rami village on March 11, when militants took food from civilians. About 10 people became victims of this clash, the diplomat noted.

“In fact, the militants are using Syrian civilians as hostages to get humanitarian aid through a non-transparent mechanism. The UN is unable to establish proper control over this for lack of access to northwest of Syria,” the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.

The UN Security Council met on March 29 to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria. A number of countries, including the US, as well as UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock proposed increasing the number of cross-border humanitarian aid delivery points in Syria to three.

Currently, there is one cross-border crossing in the Idlib de-escalation zone, which is located in Bab al-Hawa.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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