Statement by Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at an open VTC of UNSC members on the situation in Syria
Mme. President,
We thank Ms. Khawla Matar and Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham. We are glad to see Ms.Matar in good health.
Ambassador Jaafari, we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved, to the people and Government of Syria on the passing of Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Muallem. We know him as a wise and principled diplomat who effectively solved complicated foreign policy tasks during the hard times for Syria, and made a big contribution to the development of Syrian-Russian bilateral ties.
Mme. President,
We welcome that Syrian delegations at the Constitutional Committee endorsed the agenda and schedule of upcoming Editorial Commission meetings. We hope the Committee will keep operating in a stable mode both this and the next year. Unfortunately, we must account for the coronavirus factor and its related restrictions, because it is crucial to maintain health and safety of Syrian delegates, G.Pedersen’s team, and the Swiss side as a host. Hopefully, the pandemic will not hamper the Syrians’ plans. We will continue our support for Special Envoy’s mediator efforts. The talks held during his visit to Moscow on 19-20 November also turned out very useful.
Another important element is maintaining a Syrian-owned process, free of external interference. The work of the Constitutional Committee must not be subject to any enforced deadlines. We see the task of the global community in creating a constructive environment for Committee’s operation.
The situation on Syrian territories under governmental control remains generally calm. The Syrian army retaliates against attacks of terrorist “sleeper cells”. Idlib remains a hotbed of tension and a stronghold of terrorists from “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham”. Despite the pause of the armed action, they carry on with provocations, fire at the positions of the military and populated areas. Various groups clash with each other. Oppression of civil population continues in Idlib, as well as executions and attacks on humanitarian workers. Counter-terrorist efforts will be set forth despite attempts of some Western representatives to protect the militants by calling to a ceasefire with them. “Rebranding” of terrorists is unacceptable. Still yet, recently information became public that some Western states sponsored media campaigns of those supporting a forceful overthrow of the Syrian Government. We all saw those appalling and inhumane videos that apparently had been shot at the expense of external sponsors.
We are highly concerned by the processes taking place on the territories with illegal presence of the US military. Foreign occupation not only provokes separatist trends and distortion of historic ties between various Syrian ethnic and religious groups, but also undermines efforts to restore territorial integrity of the country. In words, our Western colleagues do not cease to praise their commitment to human rights (when they find it beneficial), but in deeds, they cast their eyes down when it comes to human rights in this part of Syria and in Idlib. At the same time, there are reports about militants being released from prisons and relocating to Damascus-controlled areas, and about planned trials, i.a. of foreign citizens. Oppression of the Arab population gets silenced down. Besides, plundering of oilfields and environmental pollution continue in Syria, but the United Nations, unfortunately, keeps silent about it.
Russia stands for preserving Syrian unity, respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We call to give up plans to divide the country and protract the armed conflict there. This regards both East and West of Syria, as well as the occupied Golan Heights, the visit of which by US high-ranking officials we consider as a provocation.
Mme. President,
Cross-border humanitarian deliveries to northwest Syria are sustainable. We are convinced that humanitarians have enough capacity to prepare for the winter period.
We cannot fail to mention the already shopworn issue regarding a humanitarian cross-line convoy to towns of Attareb and Daret Izza in northwest Syria. Since April, we have been hearing about the lack of arrangements with all stakeholders needed to organize this convoy from within Syria. Surprisingly, our colleagues say nothing about either the sides’ intractability, or violations of humanitarian principles on their end, even though such criticism is constantly hailed on Damascus, which, by the way, issues increasingly more transit permits that ensure access of humanitarians to various regions of the country. We have already heard of extraordinary humanity of sanctions that the EU, US, and a number of states imposed on the Syrian people. Shortly, we familiarized ourselves with a recent issue – “Commission guidance note on the provision of humanitarian aid to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in certain environments subject to EU restrictive measures”. This time the guidance addressed Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Iran, while the previous issue had been dedicated to Syria. If you study this writing carefully, you will soon understand that all this humanity is not worth a dime – the guide stipulates such conditions for interaction with Syria that will scare away any prospective humanitarian actor.
Despite external pressure, constant step-ups (even amidst the coronavirus pandemic) of illegitimate unilateral sanctions that target ordinary Syrians, the Syrian Government still makes efforts for post-conflict settlement. Among its pivotal tasks – restoration of housings and infrastructure for Syrian refugees who voluntarily get back to their homes on a daily basis, no matter how our Western colleagues may dislike it.
On 11-12 November, Damascus hosted an international conference to facilitate the refugee return, which brought together representatives of more than 20 states and international organizations. Russia rendered assistance to the Syrian side in convening this event and took active part in it. Unfortunately, the United Nations was represented only as an observer, which cut its ability to engage in the conference meaningfully. We hope the United Nations will participate in this purely humanitarian process more actively, without reference to political goals of some Member States.
These goals of the Western colleagues (in the first place of the US that boycotted the conference and called on others to do the same) are very self-explanatory. They once again demonstrated the double standards applied to Syria and its people, or rather those Syrians perceived by the West as the “bad” ones, who basically just want to live on in their country without overthrowing the government. Thus, concrete efforts have been taken to undermine the implementation of UNSC resolution 2254 – the resolution you relentlessly call to uphold and that directly states that refugees need to return to Syria. I am afraid I will have to disappoint our colleagues: the conference confirmed the need for substantive work at this track and gave start to this systemic and targeted process.
Russia sets forth its efforts aimed at repatriating the children of our citizens from Syria. On 13 November, another group of 27 Russian children returned home. In total, 133 Russian minors have been repatriated from Syria since 2017. Taking into account plans of the administration of northeast Syria to disband the Al-Hol camp, we draw the attention of our colleagues to the growing need for them to repatriate their citizens.
At the same time, we should pay closest attention to the dire humanitarian situation in this camp. Also, we remind of the responsibility of the United States as an occupying power for everything happening in camp “Rukban”.
Mme. President,
We welcome the decision to hold a joint meeting on political/humanitarian Syria, as it optimizes the work of the Security Council and gives an opportunity to address the situation in the country in a comprehensive manner. We hope this practice will hold.
Thank you.
