Russia’s Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States and the coalition that it leads in Syria of trying to divide the war-torn-country by setting up local governing bodies in areas seized from the Islamic State. He said, ” We’ve repeatedly heard unfounded concerns that the territorial integrity of Syria allegedly can be impacted by the establishment of de-escalation zones. We consistently repudiated these insinuations. And yet, what the coalition is doing, that is real measures to divide the country. The foreign presence in Syria is illegitimate regardless of how some officials may attempt to seek legal justification for them. They simply do not exist, these legal justifications. Moreover, we see attempts by the occupation forces to entrench a foothold in Syria for an indefinite period of time. This has nothing to do with counterterrorism efforts, which we are assured is the sole objective of the coalition,” Ambassador Nebenzia said.
The Russian diplomat further stressed, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, that the US-led coalition was discussing measures to restore the economy with the new bodies, but not with the Damascus government, which Moscow perceives as the only-legitimate-governing-entity in Syria.