© AP Photo/ Save the ChildrenMan walks with a pair of children in hand hand through the rubble in Eastern Ghouta, Syria
The Kremlin on Wednesday denied involvement in air strikes on Syria's rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave that monitors say have killed at least 250 civilians since the start of the week.
"These are groundless accusations. It is not clear what they are based on. No specific data has been given. We do not agree (with them)," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a US briefing saying that Russia was responsible for the attacks.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has also blamed Russian warplanes for the strikes.
Bombardment of the enclave on the outskirts of Damascus on Tuesday killed 106 civilians, including 19 children, the Observatory said.It was the second straight day that the civilian death toll topped 100, after 127 were killed Monday in Eastern Ghouta's bloodiest day in four years.
The strikes left an important hospital out of action, further limiting the little medical aid accessible to besieged civilians.The rebel-held region is nominally included in a "de-escalation" deal meant to tamp down violence, but President Bashar al-Assad appears to be preparing troops for a ground assault to retake it.
The Russian military has fought a campaign for over two years in Syria, launched in September 2015 in support of Assad, helping to turn around the multi-front war.
Comment: Russia suspects that western countries want to shift focus away from the necessity of starting the Geneva talks to launching plan "B" in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
stated.
The minister went on by expressing concern over the proposed UN Security Council resolution on Syria, saying that it may aim to accuse Damascus of everything and to protect the militants.
The top diplomatic official noted, however, that Russia was ready to consider the draft resolution.
"The resolution that we are suggested to adopt ..., we are ready to consider this proposal," Lavrov said, noting that at the same time the ceasefire regime "must not at all" reach the Daesh and the Jabhat al-Nusra terror groups (both banned in Russia) and those factions that are cooperating with them and systematically firing on the residential areas of Damascus.
The minister was commenting on the draft resolution, on the introduction of a 30-day ceasefire in Syria for the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical evacuation, proposed by the delegations of Sweden and Kuwait to the Security Council. The voting on the draft is expected to take place on Thursday.
...
He reminded that Russia had called for the Thursday UN meeting.
"We offered to consider the situation in Eastern Ghouta and the situation around it. If our arguments are ignored yet again, we will have no other choice but to believe that the authors of this initiative yet again want to blame Damascus and protect terrorist groups," he said.
Eastern Ghouta is one of four Syrian de-escalation zones created during the Astana talks on Syrian reconciliation. Three states: Russia, Iran and Turkey serve as guarantors of the de-escalation deals, which apply to all sides except those linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia).
Comment: Russia suspects that western countries want to shift focus away from the necessity of starting the Geneva talks to launching plan "B" in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated.