Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy at a UN Security Council briefing on Syria

Mm. President,

We thank Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Geir Pedersen for the briefing. We have also closely followed you, Ms. Sabah Al Hallak.

As reported by SESG Pedersen, on 30 October the first round of inter-Syrian talks within the framework of the Constitutional Committee for Syria was convened in Geneva. The Committee’s establishment and the beginning of operation, to which the Astana Format made a large contribution, was an undisputable accomplishment of the Syrian people. Let me remind that the very idea of assembling a Constitutional Committee was first articulated in 2018 in Sochi, at the Congress of the Syrian National dialogue that represented all strata of the Syrian society.

We give a positive assessment to the first round of this process that should shape the future of the country. We expect that the next round of these talks that will start next week, will proceed in a constructive environment. We wish every success to Syrians and to SESG Pedersen.

We agree with the Special Envoy that this is but a beginning of a long difficult journey. That is why we proceed from the necessity to tackle the Inter-Syrian dialogue carefully. Attempts to interfere with its work, or impose any solutions that do not reconcile with national interests of Syrians are unacceptable. Setting artificial deadlines and demanding concessions of only one of the sides also should not be the case. We believe we should remind of the key principle of Constitutional Committee’s activity stipulated in Security Council resolution 2254, which is promotion of Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process. We call on all colleagues to stick to this principle.

As guarantors of the Astana process, Russia, Turkey, and Iran stand ready to help the Syrian sides and SESG G.Pedersen search for political solution to the Syrian conflict. Thereby activity of the guarantors will base on unfailing respect for independence, unity, and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Today’s turn for the better in terms of political settlement creates conditions for making concrete steps to provide comprehensive humanitarian assistance in post-conflict recovery of Syria. It is a pity that our American colleagues, as we just heard, are still not ready to move away from stereotypes and join this work.

Mm. President,

Humanitarian and military situation remains most complicated in the areas that are out of control of the Syrian government in the East Bank of Euphrates, in Idlib de-escalation zone, and in the area around Al-Tanf that is occupied by the U.S.

The situation in the North-East of Syria was brought under control thanks to the Turkish-Russian memorandum signed on 22 October in Sochi. Thanks to the efforts made a massive armed confrontation and collateral damage among civilians could be avoided. We have long emphasized that solution to the issue with aspirations of Kurds, who constitute an inalienable part of multiethnic Syrian community, is impossible without restored control of the Syrian government over the entire national territory and border. We stand ready to continuously assist the Syrian authorities and Kurds in establishing a broad dialogue on relevant issues. Besides, we try to correct the damage that was inflicted on the Syrian community by those who had tried to win from Arab-Kurdish contradictions in the Euphrates region. Unfortunately, such attempts are taking place even now. However, now they are accompanied by unabashed statements about the real motives, which is the desire to cash in on illicit production and smuggle of the Syrian oil.

We would like to point out that the Constitutional Committee brings together representatives of the Syrian government and the civil society, and representatives of the Syrian opposition (including the one that controls armed groups). Therefore, all who are genuinely interested in shaping the political future of Syria are already part of this peaceful process, whereas bandits and terrorists continue to threaten the Syrian people. Thus, the major part of Idlib is controlled by militants from “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS) – a terrorist organization listed by the Security Council. Militants terrorize the local population, militarize civil infrastructure, hide behind peaceful citizens, and do not let them out of Idlib. HTS terrorists fire at neighboring human settlements using modern ordinance. 600 such attacks were reported to have taken place only in October; 28 – over the recent 24 hours. Reportedly, there are executions, detentions, violent break-ups of demonstrations organized by people who protest against the rule of terrorists in Idlib.  Settlement Kafr Takharim has been besieged – USG Lowcock addressed it at the recent briefing of the Security Council.

Let me repeat: those who negotiate in Geneva are opposition, those who fight in Syria are terrorists. Therefore we warn against attempts to present these jihadists as “moderate opposition” or “local administration”.

We see that some of our colleagues still rely on unverified or rather doubtful sources of information when analyzing reports about alleged attacks on peaceful people and civil facilities. We share calls to observe the international humanitarian law. Together with our Syrian partners, we do our best to save the peaceful population that terrorists use as a human shield. However, we many times could see for ourselves that very much of that data turned out to be a fraud. Unfortunately, sources of this information engage in such manipulations on a regular basis. That is why we have no trust in these messages, even more so because no massive operations have been held in Idlib recently and none are held at the moment. We call on our colleagues to be very prudent before presenting this information as truthful. Otherwise, you basically become parties to informational war, what is more – parties that side with terrorists.

Mm. President,

The Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, the Syrian Government, and the UN jointly engage in efforts to disband the camp “Rukban”. We expect that the problem of refugees and IDPs who inhabit it will be solved soon. We do not tire to raise alarm about the catastrophic situation in camp “Al-Hawl”.

We call upon all stakeholders who are genuinely interested in humanitarian integrity of Syria to join this work, as well as efforts at other humanitarian tracks and providing humanitarian assistance to Syrians without any discrimination, politicizing, and preconditions. This includes not only projects on post-conflict recovery, but also, which is no less important, lifting of unilateral sanctions in the interests of restoring normal life of Syrians.

Thank you.

 

Right of reply in response to the representative of Germany:

Mm. President,

I asked for the floor, because I would like to reply to the comment by our German colleague.

You seem to have been inattentive to my statement, because, for example, I mentioned the international humanitarian law. Besides, you treated the topic of this meeting somewhat unheedingly, because today we are speaking about Syria’s political settlement rather than humanitarian situation. Humanitarian aspects is another topic. Should it be on our agenda today, I would have paid much more attention to the humanitarian situation that you, as I understand, wanted to address.

If I may, I would still recommend to you to read informative bulletins of our Defense Ministry that we regularly circulate. Then you would see how we deliver and ensure deliveries of humanitarian assistance to those in need of it. You may trust me that we do quite and quite a lot for it.

Besides, I can conclude that despite my warnings about the need to be careful about sources that provide information on Syria’s developments, our colleague, the representative of Germany has volunteered to the “army” of those who spread unverified data about actions of Russia and Syria’s legitimate government, while forgetting to refute that data. And it doesn’t seem like you are going to demobilize from this “army”. Well, this is your conscious choice. But please remember that every reckless statement of yours means extra days of sufferings for Syrians, and another missed opportunity of a fair trial for those who want no peace for Syria and who turn every-day life of Syria’s people into hell. Your rhetoric helps legitimize them and spares them the deserved accountability, which you theoretically (I repeat – theoretically) call for.

Thank you.