Moscow Urges UNHCR To Be More Responsible In Helping Syrian Refugees Return Home

SVETLOGORSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday to be more responsible when dealing with the issue of Syrian refugee repatriation, noting that the offices support for the evacuation of members of the self-proclaimed aid group White Helmets was a mistake.

Earlier this month, Zakharova said that the White Helmets organization, which claims that its activities aim to protect Syrian civilians, had close ties with Syrian extremists and was fueling the conflict in the country. According to Syrian President Bashar Assad, the group is affiliated with al-Qaeda terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia).

"We would like to draw the attention of UNHCR representatives ... to the need to approach their work responsibly and avoid measures that can harm not only their image and reputation but, most importantly, the effectiveness of the UN's contribution to solving humanitarian problems, in particular, in Syria ... Any support from the UNHCR for the provocative activity of the White Helmets is, at best, a big mistake," Zakharova said at a briefing.

She also called on the UNHCR to avoid political biases, adhere to the humanitarian principles of neutrality and focus on providing the maximum amount of effort in helping Syrian refugees who wanted to voluntarily repatriate.

In late July, over 400 White Helmets activists and their families were evacuated from Syria at the request of Canada, European countries, and the United States amid a full-scale offensive of Syrian government troops against terror organizations in the countrys southwestern regions.

The Russian permanent mission to the European Union said that the White Helmets' evacuation from Syria proved that the states organizing the operation were seeking to cover up the provocative actions of the self-proclaimed humanitarian group.

Damascus and Moscow have accused the White Helmets of helping to stage a chemical attack in Syria's Eastern Ghouta in April. That attack prompted the United States, the United Kingdom and France to launch more than 100 missiles on multiple targets in Syria one week later.