Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expanded in his year-end interview with TASS the rapid development of the situation in Syria by former President Bashar al-Assad's failure to solve social problems, in which the US' destructive actions played a major role.
"It can be said that one of the reasons for the aggravation of the situation there was the former government’s inability to meet the fundamental demands of the people amid a drawn-out civil conflict," said the Russian foreign policy chief.
"The Syrians’ hopes for improvements after a convincing defeat of international terrorism, including with the help of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, have not materialized," Lavrov noted. "Washington, which has effectively occupied the resource-rich north-eastern part of Syria and is putting serious sanctions pressure on Damascus together with a coalition of its satellites, bears a great deal of blame for this. This line for strangling the Syrian economy stirred up social discontent."
"In that situation, the Syrian authorities had to take unpopular measures, such as cutting or cancelling subsidies for socially significant products and services," he said. "Protest sentiments were growing in society, and public support for the government was decreasing."
According to Sergey Lavrov, Russia "provided various forms of assistance to the friendly Syrian people, including humanitarian aid, the restoration of social infrastructure destroyed during the conflict, and the creation of facilities for the return of Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons. We also worked energetically to help bring about a political settlement, including within the Astana format."
"However, it can be said that despite our strong recommendations and active assistance, the former authorities have not managed to develop a constructive dialogue with their opponents and the influential regional neighbours with a view to launching a full-scale political process, or to settle serious socioeconomic problems," Lavrov emphasized.
Now the Russian side, as the Russian Foreign Minister noted, is "closely monitoring the developments in Syria. It would be premature to make far-reaching conclusions regarding them now."
