Russia’s US envoy expects compromise at UN talks
MOSCOW: Russia’s US ambassador Anatoly Antonov said the United Nations Security Council is likely to reach a compromise this week on humanitarian aid to Syria, signalling that the UN’s cross-border aid isn’t going to be shut down.
Keeping aid flowing into
Syria was a key request that US President Joe Biden made of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at their summit in Geneva last month. But that will require the two nations and other members of the UN Security Council to reach an accord this week.
“Let’s give an opportunity to our teams to deal with this issue, I am sure that they will find a compromise,” Mr Antonov said on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power with David Westin. “And I hope that this compromise will meet the United States and the Russian concern as well as the Syrian people’s concern.”
The Security Council is negotiating a resolution, backed by Western countries, that’s intended to keep the current aid corridor on the Turkish border open while reopening one from Iraq. But Russia, which backs Syria’s President Bashar alAssad, has said it won’t agree to reopen closed crossings. The deadline for extending the current operation is tomorrow, and aid groups say millions of lives may depend on maintaining aid deliveries.
A Biden administration official said on Wednesday that the US has put forward a serious and credible proposal for extending humanitarian assistance to all Syrians while meeting the vast needs that UN agencies and humanitarians have identified. The official, who asked not to be identified discussing diplomatic negotiations, said the US hopes a compromise is possible, while noting that Russia has said it intends to exercise its veto.