Western countries continue to politicize the provision of humanitarian assistance, thereby turning the needy citizens of Syria into “figures of exchange.”
This statement was made by the Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, following a vote by the Security Council on the issue of extending cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria for another six months.
So, despite the obvious dissatisfaction of Western countries, the corresponding resolution was nevertheless managed to be adopted after numerous consultations by members of the UN Security Council. The mandate for cross-border humanitarian operations spawned until July 10, 2020. They will be implemented through two checkpoints on the Syrian-Turkish border. At the same time, two others – on the border with Jordan and Iraq – were excluded.
Nebenzya praised the fact that “common sense eventually triumphed.” He acknowledged that the final resolution was not completely satisfactory to the Russian side, however, in order to pass it at all, he had to refrain from additional conditions.
“How many times have we said that humanitarian support should be outside of the political confrontation, however, political games are still unfolding around humanitarian aid,” the Russian ambassador said, calling this approach dangerous and cynical, as “Idlib’s people practically become exchange figures “.
At the same time, representatives of the United States and Britain Kelly Kraft and Karen Pierce tried to accuse Russia of politicizing the humanitarian sphere. So, they began to focus on the fact that the termination of the use of checkpoints on the border with Jordan and Iraq supposedly deprived more than a million Syrians of the opportunity to receive humanitarian assistance.
They were joined by German Permanent Representative Christoph Heusgen. “The next morning, 1.4 million Syrians in the north-east of the country will wake up and will not know whether they will receive medical care,” he said.
However, in the West they prefer to keep silent about the fact that the El-Yarubiya border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border has not been used for the delivery of humanitarian aid since last October. Al-Ramat crossing on the border with Jordan has been inactive since the summer of 2018.
At the same time, Nebenzya noted that humanitarian aid to residents of the north-eastern part of Syria is delivered through the territory of the country, which is under the control of the official government. “This fact is reflected in the report of the UN Secretary General S / 2019/949,” he stressed.