relief workers unload humanitarian aid
© REUTERS/ Bassam Khabieh
A joint humanitarian convoy of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent of 51 trucks, supported by the Russian military, delivered aid to the Syrian East Gouta, Russia's envoy to the UN Geneva Office Alexey Borodavkin told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The convoy accompanied by the Russian military provided assistance to 35,000 people.

"The Russian side is doing its utmost to ensure that the Syrian civilians receive humanitarian aid, including, from the UN, regularly," Borodavkin said.

He added that the humanitarian aid delivery was "a convincing proof" that the Syrian government and the Russian military were successfully working in this direction on the ground.

The delivery of humanitarian aid to the Syrian East Ghouta on Tuesday proves that Moscow and the Syrian government are sincerely interested in the success of the ongoing intra-Syrian talks in Astana, a diplomatic source told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"The delivery of humanitarian aid, with the active participation and extensive assistance from the Russian Federation, to the region held by the armed groups, on the eve of the international meeting on Syria in Astana, convincingly demonstrates the sincere interest of Russia and the Syrian Government in the success of the Astana talks, and the readiness for even unilateral measures to restore confidence," the source said.

The source added that the Russian diplomats and military from the very beginning of the preparation of the humanitarian operation had been working out every detail of the delivery together with their colleagues from the UN.

On Tuesday, UN spokesman in Syria Khaled Masri told Sputnik that the convoy had been sent to the city of Duma in East Gouta where some 70,000 people in the town were under siege by armed Syrian opposition groups.