Russian MoD: Moscow and Washington have different ideas about humanitarian aid in Aleppo
Commenting on U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby’s statement that humanitarian pauses organized by Russia in Aleppo are useless, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said that Moscow and Washington have different ideas about humanitarian aid in Aleppo, TASS reported.
According to Konashenkov, for Russia, humanitarian aid entails delivering food and medicine to the inhabitants of Aleppo, while for the U.S., it involves allowing convoys to enter the eastern part of the city without being checked.
"Such statements once again demonstrate how differently the State Department and us understand the use of humanitarian pauses… Over the past months only, we have delivered more than 100 tons of important aid - foods, medications and essentials. This was delivered to all citizens of Aleppo, not limited to its western or eastern part. Meanwhile, the State Department has not delivered an ounce to Syrians it is allegedly caring for so much," Konashenkov said.
“‘Useful’, as the State Department understands it, aid, as we’ve seen means convoys bound to the eastern part of Aleppo only, without the right of search and control, with a heavy-gauge mortar escort," he said.
Moscow claims that Russian aircraft have not been active around Aleppo for nearly three weeks.
On Friday, the UN announced that it cannot use Russia’s unilateral humanitarian pauses to deliver aid to Aleppo because it does not have the required security guarantees.