MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is blaming “extremist forces” for the failure of a daily five-hour “humanitarian pause” he’d ordered for the Syrian rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta earlier this week.
The United Nations Security Council and, separately, the Russian leader, had issued calls for a pause in fighting to allow civilians to leave. The UN also wanted to send urgent medical and food supplies into the besieged area.
Both calls were ignored and rebel fighters holed up in Eastern Ghouta, as well as Syrian government forces, accused each other of breaking the truce.
During a news conference in Moscow Wednesday, Putin said “extremist forces” and representatives of “terrorist organizations” had prevented civilians from leaving.
He told reporters that an agreement had been reached with “the Syrian partners.”
“We offered to organize a humanitarian corridor to get children, wounded, all those who need help out of the region … If we all join our efforts to stabilize the situation in the country in general and in Eastern Ghouta, we are bound for success,” Putin said. He didn’t elaborate on what that success might look like.
US and UN officials have accused the Russian-backed Syrian regime of carrying out an indiscriminate aerial bombardment of the area.
Gen. Joseph Votel, who oversees all US troops in the Middle East, said Tuesday that Russia was playing the role of “both arsonist and firefighter” in Syria. Votel said continued regime aerial attacks in Eastern Ghouta appeared to show that Russia is incapable of, or unwilling, to hold the regime to account.
