"Openly sided with the terrorists": the Foreign Ministry condemned the new package of US anti-Russian sanctions

By introducing the latest package of sanctions against entities that supply fuel to Russian forces in Syria, the United States virtually openly supported the terrorists. Such a statement was made in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"In Washington, it was publicly announced that sanctions should be a punishment for" organizing the supply of jet fuel for Russian forces in Syria, "the foreign ministry said in a comment.

“Since the Russian Aerospace Forces have been assisting the Syrian government forces in the fight against terrorist groups since 2015, it turns out that the United States openly sided with the terrorists,” the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

They stated that the last package of sanctions against Russia was already the 75th since 2011, when Washington “curtailed the reloading of bilateral relations announced by him." Moreover, the introduced restrictions did not lead to any result, the Foreign Ministry noted, adding that this time the United States "surpassed itself in its own recklessness."

Recall of the imposition of sanctions on Thursday, September 26, the US Treasury reported. The list includes five vessels, one company and three individuals from Russia. In particular, the US Treasury said that Maritime Assistance was allegedly used by Sovfreight (against which sanctions had been imposed earlier) as “dummy”.

The restrictions also affected the employees of Sovfreight - the head of the marine transport department Ivan Okorokov, his first deputy Karen Stepanyan and deputy director for legal affairs Ilya Loginov. Vessels that are on the sanctions list belong to Transpetrochart - we are talking about OT-2077, Passat, Sig, Sudak and Yaz.

The fact that the imposed sanctions should also put additional pressure on the Syrian government, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“As part of our campaign of maximum pressure (on Syria. - RT ), the Ministry of Finance has included Russian companies on the list of sanctions for supporting the brutal Assad military machine and supplying oil to the Russian military forces in Syria,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

• U.S. Treasury Department
• AFP
• © MANDEL NGAN

“The fight against terrorists will continue”

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that if before the United States, introducing a new package of sanctions, at least “covered themselves with references to the desire to put pressure” on Moscow in the Crimean context, now “the masks have been completely dropped - it’s directly about the desire to prevent the complete elimination of terrorists” in Syria.

“The Russian side has long noted with concern that Washington is“ patronizing ”the terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra * and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham *, supplying them with everything necessary and trying to cover them from the attacks, although they are direct descendants of Al- Qaedas "** and are universally recognized by terrorist organizations," the Foreign Ministry stressed.

They added that the United States "caught themselves in outright complicity with terrorism." At the same time, diplomats condemned the cynicism and unprincipledness of the policy pursued by Washington, assuring that these sanctions will not affect the fight against radical groups in the Arab Republic.

"The fight against terrorists in Syria will continue - despite the fact that the US patronizes them and illegally occupies part of the territory of this sovereign country, preventing the end of the Syrian conflict," the ministry concluded.

In turn, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, commenting on the introduction of new sanctions by the US administration, noted that Washington "is very jealous of the absolutely legitimate, and most importantly, successful Russian fight against international terrorism in Syria."

At the same time, according to the diplomat, now at the upcoming meeting on September 27, the heads of the foreign affairs agencies Sergey Lavrov and Mike Pompeo will be forced to discuss artificially created problems - sanctions and visa issues for a part of the Russian delegation going to the UN General Assembly.

“We hoped that the foreign ministers would be able to concentrate more on improving relations between our countries,” the diplomat emphasized.

“The USA sees the advantages of Russia”

According to experts, Washington’s actions are partly due to the fact that the US is concerned about the country's declining role in resolving conflicts in the Middle East. So, a military political scientist, head of the department of political science and sociology of REU them. Plekhanova Andrey Koshkin noted that now Russia plays a more significant role in this region.

“Here the USA sees the advantages of Russia, which was able to curb the situation and to some extent become a pivot, because the roads did not lead the leaders of the Middle Eastern states to Washington, but to Moscow and Sochi. In such a pronounced situation of shifting the balance between the United States and Russia in the Middle East, Washington, distraught, seeks to stop Russia and takes all measures without even realizing the consequences, ”he told RT.

In turn, an expert at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Blokhin expressed the opinion that the United States uses terrorists in Syria for its own purposes related to politics in the region.

“The United States has adopted strategic terrorism, they use terrorists to solve their narrow specific geopolitical tasks,” he said in a conversation with RT.

Blokhin is convinced that US sanctions will not affect Russia's determination to continue the fight against terrorism.

“We are there at the invitation of officials, nothing now can shake the desire of Russia to help the Syrian people. It’s like a question with Crimea: no sanctions will return Crimea to Ukraine, so it is here. No sanctions will force Russia to stop supporting the Syrian people, ”the expert emphasized.

“Russia will take all measures”

Recall that Russian forces in Syria are assisting the legitimate government in the fight against terrorism and the restoration of civilian infrastructure. Moscow, through diplomatic and political lines, is promoting a peaceful settlement of the internal conflict.

Thanks to efforts in this area, the armed conflict in the country was almost completed, a constitutional committee was formed, which included representatives of the Syrian authorities, the opposition and civil society, and also began to restore the country's economy.

Nevertheless, terrorist groups continue to remain in the Idlib de-escalation zone. According to Moscow, over 90% of the area is controlled by militants. Moreover, terrorists continue to make sorties and attacks from there on both Syrian troops or Russian forces at the Hmeimim airbase, as well as on civilian targets and civilians.

According to Koshkin, the sanctions imposed by the States will not affect the end of the conflict.

“I think that Russia will take all measures to ensure that all tasks are completed. Moreover, now there is a lot of work to do in terms of translating an armed conflict into a political one, then into a peaceful one, ”the analyst said.

* “Jabhat al-Nusra” (“Jabhat Fath al-Sham”, “Front al-Nusra”, “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham”) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.

** Al-Qaeda - the organization was recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.