Russian draft UN SC resolution calls for urgent opening of humanitarian corridors in east Ukraine - Lavrov
MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) - In its draft resolution on Ukraine for the United Nations Security Council Russia proposes to create humanitarian corridors in the east of this country.
"This draft resolution will contain a requirement to immediately create humanitarian corridors that will help civilians leave hostility zones, should they wish so," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference in Moscow on Monday.
Russia will submit the draft resolution with the UN SC on Monday.
"We want the SC to require that civilians be allowed to leave and humanitarian aid delivered to the hostility zones freely. We consider it a matter of principle to reaffirm in the SC decision the validity of the Geneva conventions and other norms of international humanitarian law, to demand strict compliance with them, including any assistance to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organizations working in southeast Ukraine, and to demand prevention of any actions which would prevent humanitarian staff from fulfilling their duties," Lavrov said.
Russia has "deliberately formulated its initiative in a depoliticized way by aiming it at taking measures that will immediately alleviate the sufferings of the civilians, at compliance with the Geneva Statement and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) roadmap, which gained broad international support," the Russian foreign minister stressed.
"And we hope that such a humanitarian nature of our initiative will be correctly perceived by the UN SC and our resolution accepted for immediate processing," the Russian foreign minister said.