Al-Nusra militants actually holding eastern Aleppo residents hostage - Lavrov
ATHENS. Nov 2 (Interfax) - Moscow continues working on the Syria crisis settlement together with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We have been trying to resolve the problem of Aleppo for months. Russia and the United States reached agreements to that effect. Alas, the United States actually withdrew from those agreements after they had been mutually approved," Lavrov said at a meeting with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
"A number of humanitarian pauses have been declared," the minister said. "Neither Russian nor Syrian aircraft have been operating in Aleppo for two weeks. Yet the extremists are taking advantage of every humanitarian pause to replenish their ranks and arsenals," Lavrov said.
Jabhat al-Nusra, a group banned in Russia, which controls eastern Aleppo and has armed units under its control, "is actually holding civilians hostage," he said.
"We are carrying on our efforts together with the Americans, representatives of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey and we are searching for ways to resolve this crisis," the Russian foreign minister said.
The immediate start of the political settlement process "is being sabotaged by those who are actually breaching UN Security Council resolutions and are conniving with the extremists who do not want to negotiate but wish to topple the Bashar al-Assad regime instead," he said.
'If UN Security Council resolutions pertaining to Syria had been fulfilled in good faith and by everyone, the situation would have changed for the better by now," Lavrov said.
