ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Russia is a partner in the Syrian regime’s crimes against the people of Syria and so can no longer be a sponsor of the negotiation process, declared a coalition of opposition groups and rebel fighters in a statement published Sunday.
“Russia can no longer be a sponsor of the negotiations process because it is a partner to the regime’s crimes against our people,” reads the statement published jointly by the Syrian National Coalition of opposition groups and 30 groups of the Free Syrian Army.
They describe the peace negotiations in their current configuration as “meaningless in light of the ongoing bombardment, killing, and destruction,” and demand the violence be “stopped fully and immediately.”
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, the United States, Russia’s partner in the International Syria Support Group, slammed Russia, holding it directly responsible for the carnage in Aleppo where more than 150 airstrikes have rained down on rebel-held neighbourhoods in the last 72 hours.
The American ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, called on the Security Council to “in a single voice, tell Russia to stop.”
Russia, the main backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been accused of failing to ensure Damascus complies with cessations of hostilities and of joining the Syrian regime in airstrikes on civilian targets, including a convoy delivering aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said that rebel fighters were the main reason why attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo failed and said that a true ceasefire can only begin with destroying Nusra Front.
“Russia can no longer be a sponsor of the negotiations process because it is a partner to the regime’s crimes against our people,” reads the statement published jointly by the Syrian National Coalition of opposition groups and 30 groups of the Free Syrian Army.
They describe the peace negotiations in their current configuration as “meaningless in light of the ongoing bombardment, killing, and destruction,” and demand the violence be “stopped fully and immediately.”
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, the United States, Russia’s partner in the International Syria Support Group, slammed Russia, holding it directly responsible for the carnage in Aleppo where more than 150 airstrikes have rained down on rebel-held neighbourhoods in the last 72 hours.
The American ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, called on the Security Council to “in a single voice, tell Russia to stop.”
Russia, the main backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been accused of failing to ensure Damascus complies with cessations of hostilities and of joining the Syrian regime in airstrikes on civilian targets, including a convoy delivering aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said that rebel fighters were the main reason why attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo failed and said that a true ceasefire can only begin with destroying Nusra Front.
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