Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the US commitment to the ceasefire agreement in Syria, saying he hoped US would work to achieve their commen goal and break its ties with the “terrorists” in Syria.
Under the ceasefire agreement, made by US and Russia who back opposing sides in the five-year-old war, a nationwide truce from sundown on Monday was promised,as well as improved access for humanitarian aid and joint military targeting of hardline Islamist groups.
However, the truce were threatend by breaches to the ceasefire that both sides blamed eachother for, and by blocking humanitarian aids delivery in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo by Assad regime.
Washington told Moscow on Friday that potential military cooperation in Syria would not happen unless it pressured the Assad reigme to allow aid into besieged areas.
Russia has in turn accused Washington of failing to rein in the rebels, and on Saturday Putin asked why the United States has insisted on not releasing a written copy of the agreement.
“Our partners (the United States) are calling for openness and transparency … but they are deviating from this postulate,” Putin told reporters during a visit to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek for a summit of former Soviet republics.
“This is because of the difficulties they (the Americans) are facing… that they still can’t separate the healthy part of the (Syrian) opposition from the semi-criminal… But we are more positive than negative and expect that promises given (by the Americans)… will be fulfilled.”
“In my opinion, this comes from the desire to keep the combat potential in fighting the legitimate government of Bashar Assad. But this is a very dangerous route.”
He appeared to be referring to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, which is deeply embedded in rebel-held areas and fights alongside more moderate groups.
Putin also commented on Saturday on November’s U.S. presidential election, saying Moscow would support any person in any country who “is friendly to us”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Putin’s remarks during a phone call with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Lavrov noted the “refusal by an array of illegal armed groups to join the ceasefire”, and Washington’s obligation to “separate units of the moderate opposition from terrorist groupings”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
The Syrian crisis began as a peaceful demonstration against the injustice in Syria. Assad regime used to fire power and violence against the civilians and led to armed resistance. 450.000 Syrians lost their lives in the past five years according to UN estimates, and more than 12 million have lost their homes. Syria
