Moscow is concerned about the dramatic humanitarian situation in some parts of the Syrian Arab Republic caused by the ongoing domestic armed conflict in the country. The situation in the besieged towns of Madaya, Foah and Kefraya arouse particular concern. We in turn are proactively working to make it easier for civilians, including through our contacts with the official Syrian authorities. We encourage them to cooperate constructively with UN humanitarian agencies in order to open humanitarian access to the abovementioned and other towns and villages in their plights. These efforts have produced tangible results, partly confirmed by UN humanitarian agencies in Syria who are monitoring humanitarian aid deliveries to Madaya.

At this time all the parties to the Syrian conflict and countries that have influence on them should do their best to help deliver humanitarian aid above all to the towns and villages held by the terrorist groups of Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam.

We recognize the importance of addressing the entire spectrum of humanitarian issues facing Syrian civilians, and we emphasize the urgent need to launch an inclusive intra-Syrian negotiating process, without any preliminary conditions, based on the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012 and the agreements reached at the International Syrian Support Group meetings on October 30 and November 14, 2015, and also on the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 of December 18, 2015.

 

January 15, 2016