Russian Foreign Ministry on Syria, Ukraine, and NATO
by Stephen Lendman
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (MZ below), liberating Daraa and Quneitra in southwest Syria from US-supported terrorists “is in its final stage.”
AMN News concurred, saying anti-government forces “are on the verge of losing their remaining territory in southwest Syria after a string of losses to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA),” notably in Daraa.
The offensive to liberate Quneitra remains to be launched, the last major battle to liberate southwest Syria from US-supported terrorists.
Pentagon and allied forces illegally occupying southwest and northeast Syria remain to be dealt with. Whether resolution of this issue comes out of Putin/Trump summit talks remains to be seen.
It’s likely a long shot at best, regardless of what’s said publicly in a joint press conference and/or a concluding statement if one is issued.
MZ: “(T)he province of Daraa has been liberated almost completely.” Syrian forces regained control of the border with Jordan, the Beirut-Damascus-Amman highway again open to traffic.
MZ highlighted “vast amounts of modern (US and other) Western-made weapons and equipment transferred by pacified militants to the Syrian army, including various ATGM systems, armored vehicles, small arms and ammunition representing material evidence of gross external interference in Syrian affairs.”
Refugees displaced by fighting were many fewer in numbers than anti-Syrian propaganda reports. They’re now free to return home to liberated areas.
MZ: “The Syrian government is providing” humanitarian aid. So is Russia, not the UN and rest of the world community, supplying it to terror-controlled areas alone, for their use, not civilians held hostage.
MZ slammed neocon US representative to Ukraine’s putschist regime Kurt Volker’s hostile remarks about Russia and Donbass freedom fighters refusing to live under fascist rule, saying he ignores “evidence of the constant ceasefire violations by Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the country’s east.”
“(S)ince January 2018, the number of incidents involving artillery fire by the Ukrainian Armed forces against residential communities surged five-fold” - weapons and munitions supplied by Washington supporting Kiev aggression against its own people.
Ukrainian media “continue to rapidly deteriorate,” independent journalists targeted for elimination by imprisonment or assassination.
Russian RIA Novosti journalist Kirill Vyshinsky was arrested, falsely accused of “high treason” for doing his job responsibly.
Kiev so far turned a deaf ear to Moscow’s demand for his release, adding the international community ignores “the deteriorating situation” of free expression by the regime.
“(F)oreign journalists continue to be prevented from entering the country.” US-installed Kiev putschists suppress dissent and restrict free expression when diverging from the official narrative.
MZ slammed US-dominated NATO for “accusing Russia of fueling tensions in the Euro-Atlantic area. The (alliance) is building up its own military activity under this pretext even in the once quiet regions of the Baltics and Northern Europe.”
“…NATO positions itself as a defensive alliance, while increasing purchases of offensive weapons.”
Instead of preventing “unintentional incidents,” US-led alliance members conduct hostile “maneuvers close to the Russian borders.”
“Its calls for dialogue within the Russia-NATO Council are followed by an expulsion of our diplomats and refusal to conduct dialogue between the militaries.”
Combined military spending of its 29 member states is many times greater than Russia’s.
Thousands of US-led NATO forces are provocatively positioned along Russia’s borders. Longstanding US policy calls for containing and isolating the Russian Federation despite no threat to its security or to other alliance members.
Western propaganda hostile to Russia continues at a fever pitch, notably from the US and UK in the run-up to Monday’s Putin/Trump summit talks - a malicious effort to undermine them.
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