Remarks to the press by Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, following the Security Council consultations on Syria
Q: Ambassador, the UK and France are drafting a resolution to sanction people linked to chemical weapons attacks…
V.Churkin: I hope they keep drafting because they have been speaking about it as an urgent matter for such a long time without producing any drafts. But to be more serious we believe that first of all JIM has been working very hard in a very professional way but they were given a task and put in a situation that would not allow them to produce credible evidence. The only credible thing I think is the fact that terrorists used mustard gas. As for the Syrian Government, we gave you a very detailed expert analysis of their results and we believe they just don’t contain enough information to accuse anybody of anything. I suppose this is one of the reasons why it takes so long to draft a resolution they have been talking about.
Q: Would you support any action on this?
V.Churkin: No, we wouldn’t. The important thing is that the Security Council was able to extend the functioning of JIM. We hope it will continue to serve as a deterrent and if they are able to produce more credible results then of course we can be talking about impunity or fighting against impunity but at this point just not enough material proof to do anything about it. I think it is really a misplaced effort. What we need to do is to make sure that JIM is fully focused around its current mandate which has been extended to include more activity with regard to terrorist uses of chemical weapons which we think by and large have been overlooked for obvious political purposes because our western colleagues were trying to focus exclusively on the Syrian Government and shrugging away everything which in their view could distract attention from accusations of the Syrian Government. We need to keep supporting JIM the way its mandate was formulated in the resolution recently adopted by the UNSC.
Q: What about Aleppo and call for an emergency meeting of the UNSC by France (and the UK)?
V.Churkin: First of all it is quite typical that they were talking to the media about it without telling the members of the Security Council about their intentions.
As permanent members of the Security Council they should know that the way to do it is to write a letter to President of the Security Council. The absence of the letter and making declarations to the media – clearly it is a propaganda campaign. We have seen it many times. When we saw situations when various opposition groups, terrorist groups were on the offensive our western colleagues were not perturbed by civilian casualties, siege would last for weeks, months, years. In this particular situation there is also another side motive to distract the attention from what is going on in Mosul which in many respects is much more dramatic than the situation in Eastern Aleppo which, with all the gravity of any situation where you have fighting going on, has some indications of improvement, some factors, even from humanitarian terms indicate that there are some added opportunities. For instance, you will recall that for many weeks if not months we were discussing with the Americans the need to use the Castello Road for humanitarian supplies to Eastern Aleppo and how that could be arranged. The Americans were not able to follow through with the opposition people so they did not perform their part of the duties to make sure that Castello Road can be used for humanitarian supplies. Now the result of the latest developments is that the Castello Road can be freely used for humanitarian supplies to Eastern Aleppo. As soon as the humanitarians are ready, they can use the Castello Road. If they are not ready we are doing our share of what needs to be done. You have probably heard that our Ministry of Defense is sending a high quality hospital because clearly the civilians who are living in Eastern Aleppo, they are in need of medical attention. We are doing our share and we hope that humanitarians are going to join in. Unfortunately they have been talking a lot and sometimes quite loudly without being prepared for the practical actions when time comes. We hope that this time they are going to be a little bit more efficient in providing the humanitarian assistance. As to the meeting of the Security Council, if they do write that letter, I hope they are in the position to do that, we believe that we should avoid the mistake which has been made many times before. You can not single out one particular aspect of the situation. If there is to be a discussion, we need to discuss the implementation of the resolutions of the Security Council. And they do include humanitarian aspect of the situation, but we also need to discuss our struggle against terrorism and we need to discuss the political process. Without that it is simply the distraction of the attention from the complexity of the overall situation in Syria.
Q: Since you are sure about the responsibility of the terrorist groups on chemical weapons attacks, why don’t you engage with the Europeans on this track since they are already have something to put on the table?
V.Churkin: They don’t have anything to put on the table. If they do put something on the table of course, we’ll point out the need to deal with terrorists’ use of chemical weapons as well. But you know, what can you do with terrorists? They are terrorists.
Q: What about the Egyptian draft resolution? Where do you stand on this?
V.Churkin: We have some discussions and some amendments on that. But you know, frankly, I think to a large measure it is being overtaken by events. But we’ll see, maybe it can be brought to a condition when it can be useful.
Q: On DPRK tomorrow how will the Security Council vote?
V.Churkin: Unanimously, I hope.
Q: Ambassador, one more on Aleppo. So what is the military endgame in Eastern Aleppo? The Government of Syria with Russian help will bring them back under the national government?
V.Churkin: I think this is the direction where things are going.
Q: Is it a fight to the end?
V.Churkin: It is not a fight to the end. It is the fight to take the city back. It was an untanable situation which could not existenting definitely. Two parts of the city where they are shelling Western Aleppo from Eastern Aleppo. It was impossible to maintain the situation. Now I suppose it is leaning in the direction of the government taking back the control of the whole city.
Q: Are going to let the Jabhat Al-Nusra fighters leave?
V.Churkin: They had this opportunity. They didn’t want to leave. This is another aspect of this propaganda campaign. Of course, our western colleagues have been trying to belittle the importance of Jabhat Al-Nusra in Eastern Aleppo, sometimes saying that there are just 200 fighters. If there are 200 fighters, why didn’t they ask the so-called moderate opposition to chase them out of the city? I mean, the US spent 500 million dollars on a certain program to prepare moderate fighters to fight the terrorists. Now the time has come. So if thousands of moderate fighters cannot chase out Nusra, then unfortunately the fight against Nusra needs to continue with our participation and with the important role of the Syrian Government.
Q: And what precautions is Russia taking for 275 000 civilians in Eastern Aleppo?
V.Churkin: We have taken all sorts of precautions. As you know, we have provided humanitarian corridors. We have not been conducting any bombing campaigns for weeks, now I think in a month and a half. And of course when those campaigns were conducted we were taking every measure not to have civilian casualties. But this is a war which has been fought in a city.
Q: So, you are saying that is only the Syrian air force that is bombing Eastern Aleppo now?
V.Churkin: The problem that we have with those allegations is that they are never specific. The Spokesman of the State Department famously came out a few days ago to the briefing room and said that five hospitals had been bombed. The simple question – what hospitals? You need to count them one after another, not just give a figure.
We never got that specific information. I think it is outrageous, brazen propaganda statements from State Department Spokesman, especially when we hear that thousands of civilians die every day.
Q: So you are clearly saying that Russia is not bombing over Eastern Aleppo at all?
V.Churkin: We haven’t been bombing it since October 18. The American military within their technical means should be in position to say, for instance: the Syrian air force has dropped three bombs here and there… They should be able to do that. When there was another propaganda saying about this allegedly school which had been bombed in Idlib on October 26, as you remember, our military said immediately that no airplanes were flying.
I hope that the American are not much worse in terms of sources of information. So, they should be able to substantiate their accusations. Unfortunately, they have been bigger in their mouths then in the results of their intelligence gathering.
Q: What is your reaction to the New Zealand, Egypt, Spanish draft resolution?
V.Churkin: We are looking at it. But, I think, really, it is being overtaken by events. Anyway, we had some amendments to share with the Egyptian colleagues
Q: What do you think about the salvation government in Yemen?
V.Churkin: It is an extremely complicated situation. It is just a part of political maneuvering.
Q: Would you back up a statement from the Council condemning such a move?
V.Churkin: There needs to be a comprehensive statement from the Council, if there is to be one. But the puzzle is so complicated, that I don’t think this announcement of the formation of the government adds much more complexity to the actual situation, which is quite dramatic.
Q: Will Russia support SC resolution on Palestinian State?
V.Churkin: Of course. We recognized them back in 1988.
