Statement and the right of reply by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UN Security Council briefing on Syria
Mm. President,
At the outset let me thank Under-Secretary-General M.Lowcock for the informative and meaningful briefing.
We agree that 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.
In their statements, our colleagues gave many justified critical assessments to the situation in the North-East of Syria. We would like to remind that the problem with the North-East of Syria has not emerged overnight; and neither the Syrian government, nor Russia, nor Turkey has created it. The key reason for destabilization in the Euphrates region is, largely, its illegal occupation and the dangerous experiment with demographic engineering that was carried out there “as a snub” to the Syrian government. Reliable and long-term stabilization in Syria can only be achieved if sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria are observed. Syria urgently should be liberated from illegal foreign military presence. Even if what is at stake is oil – a resource that is so important for our American colleagues. It does not belong to you, it belongs to Syrians. In their eyes, what the U.S. does is plunder and robbery. Return of oilfields to Syria would constitute a real contribution of the U.S. to humanitarian assistance to the people of this country.
Russia tries – hard as it can – to improve the situation, avoid humanitarian disaster and death of people. The situation in the North-East of Syria was brought under control thanks to the Turkish-Russian memorandum signed on 22 October in Sochi. Russian military police started joint patrols of the zone along the border. Syrian governmental troops have been deployed at the negotiated border checkpoints. Kurdish self-defense units have withdrawn.
Now to Idlib de-escalation zone.
Statements that we heard lacked (partly or completely) one most important thing: IDZ remains a hotbed of international terrorism. That is why head of ISIL Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took refuge in Idlib province, and the so-called international coalition had to launch strikes on this area. We see that our colleagues are getting assured that Idlib is controlled by terrorists who use the civil population as human shield.
Mm. President,
Militants continue to fire at governmental forces. 600 such attacks were reported to have taken place only in October. On 11-12 November there was a large bombardment of settlements Tel Turky, Madaiia, Houwein, etc. in the south of Idlib. On 10 November, residential quarters of Aleppo were bombarded. As a result, one child died, dozens of people were wounded. Reportedly, there are executions, detentions, violent break-ups of demonstrations organized by people who protest against the rule of terrorists in Idlib. M.Lowcock also addressed it today.
To keep these crimes off the radar means to start another attempt to divide terrorists into “the good and the bad ones”. No matter what you call these groups – ISIL, “Jabhat al-Nusra”, “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham”, etc – all of them profess the idiology of terror, murder, and violence. Let us once again warn everyone against “flirting” with jihadists in order to achieve opportunistic goals; against providing political back-up, giving them material or financial support, or, even worse – against attempting to present them as “moderate radicals”.
To our regret, today we once again hear the Syrian military and their allies being accused of launching air strikes against civil facilities in Idlib. As we learned from Media, this information had come from the notorious “White Helmets”. We spoke in detail about the problem of credibility of data that was thrown-in in Media and then made its way to statements of our colleagues in the Security Council. On 16 September, we held a detailed press-conference at the United Nations, where on the basis of irrefutable data we proved that the most “high-profile” cases of alleged bombing by the Russian Air-Space Forces of civil facilities in Idlib were frauds. However, from statements of some of our distinguished colleagues we can make that they ignored this information. Apparently, they find it more convenient to speculate about Syria’s humanitarian problems without taking any action to save peaceful population from terrorists.
On our part, we continue to interact with UN OCHA in order to improve the humanitarian situation, i.a. to rectify the work of the deconfliction mechanism. We have touched upon its problems on many occasions. It is positive that drawbacks (hopefully, accidental) were acknowledged. They showed themselves when transmitting coordinates and describing alleged civil facilities that upon inspection turned out to be bases and shelters of militants. Against this backdrop, we welcome the commitment of UN OCHA to readdress methodology of data collection under the deconfliction mechanism. This is a step in the right direction.
We share concerns expressed here about growing terrorist threat in various areas of Syria that are not yet controlled by the government. We call upon those who created and maintained prisons in the North-East not to shift their responsibility, which is to make sure that all sorts of jihadists do not get scattered throughout the region.
Mm. President,
Russia, together with the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, takes measures to create conditions for return of refugees and IDPs. As of today, almost 2 million Syrians have returned home, 1.3 million of them being IDPs. 914 educational and 212 medical facilities have been restored. There are energy, water, and industrial facilities under construction or restoration. These figures are irrefutable proof of efficiency of measures taken by the Syrian government to create environment for voluntary, dignified, and safe return of refugees. We call upon international organizations, including UN OHCR and other humanitarian bodies to galvanize work at this track. Regrettably, this activity is often hampered deliberately.
The Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, the Syrian Government, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross jointly engage in efforts to disband the camp “Rukban”. However, these efforts are losing momentum because armed groups that are present there want to remain in control. We expect that soon the problem of refugees and IDPs who are situated there will be solved.
As for the camp “Al-Hawl”, the situation there is truly disastrous because of impeded access of humanitarian agencies and the lacking finance. Many refugees from other camps in the North-East relocated there, and it further aggravated the situation. Half of its inhabitants are women and children. Time has long become ripe to think of transferring all illegally occupied territories to the Syrian authorities in order to resolve the problem with IDPs.
Another pressing issue is the problem of mine-clearing. We welcome the beginning of project operation of the United Nations Mine Action Service in Syria. Russia is part of mine-clearing in SAR both in national capacity and as a contributor to the Service. In this regard, we call upon all countries 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.
Mm. President,
Despite various factors and outbursts of tension, the situation in Syria gradually normalizes, in the first place – thanks to transfer of the major part of the territory under control of the legitimate government. One of the positive factors was the launch of Syria’s Constitutional Committee on 30 October in Geneva. Its establishment and start of operation, to which the “Astana format” has contributed a lot, is an indisputable accomplishment of the people of Syria. We also give a positive assessment to the first round of Inter-Syrian dialogue that should shape the future of the country. As guarantors of the Astana process, Russia, Turkey, and Iran stand ready to help the Syrian sides and Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria G.Pedersen search for political solution to the Syrian conflict. We proceed from the assumption that the situation on the ground should not affect the work of the Committee.
Thank you.
In response to the Permanent Representative of Germany:
Thank you, Christoph. I see you still read the “New York Times”. We have long switched to more reliable sources of information. We suggest you should do the same.
As we understand, Board of Inquiry is an internal tool of the United Nations. The report will be presented to the Secretary-General, and he will decide what should be done about it. There are relevant procedures that the Secretary-General sticks to.
All the rest you can learn from our regular news in Media, press-conferences, etc. I can assure you they are much more reliable than your sources.
