Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has announced that Moscow condemns in strong terms as unacceptable the ongoing Israeli attacks on Syria that could result in a significant military escalation.
‘We consider similar irresponsible moves by Israel to be absolutely inadmissible. We resolutely condemn them,’ Zakharova emphasised.
The Russian diplomat also claimed that the Israeli strikes are a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty and fundamental principles of international law.
‘We believe that such a vicious practice in no way contributes to reducing security risks for Israel itself. On the contrary, destabilising acts of force may provoke retaliatory moves and lead to a large-scale military escalation. We urge Israel to stop its armed military provocations against neighboring Syria and refrain from any moves that put the entire region at risk of dangerous consequences,’ reads Zakharova’s remark.
On August 31, the Israeli air force conducted a missile strike at the international airport near the Syrian city of Aleppo. Later that day, Syrian air defenses repelled an Israeli attack in the skies above Damascus, by downing several missiles. Material damage was reported as a result of the strikes, with no casualties.
Africa Daily News, New York recalls that Major General Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, had specified at a briefing last Thursday that Israeli combat jets had delivered strikes on facilities at the Syrian airfields of Neyrab (Aleppo) and Duvali (Damascus), which left five people injured and the antenna post of a Syrian S-125 missile system and two storage facilities for military-technical equipment damaged.
In another report, the European Union foreign ministers has finally made an agreement to fully suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal that they had made with Russia.
They also refused to implement a wider visa ban as had been requested by some member states
Josep Borrell who is the European Union foreign policy chief had revealed that the ministers had agreed that relations with Moscow ‘cannot be business as usual’ and the agreement should be ‘fully suspended’.
Following the informal meeting in Prague, he said this would make it “more difficult” and “longer” for Russian nationals to get visas.
