Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday that the US, which is frustrated over the Moscow-Ankara accord on the Idlib settlement, uses any pretext to promote anti-Russian hysteria.
She said that the Ministry has paid attention to “the intensification of contacts between American politicians and the quasi-humanitarian organisation White Helmets operating in Syria”.
“Such contacts usually end up with big problems in the region in the form of provocations and provocative actions. On 17 March, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met the White Helmets leader despite restrictions on contacts with foreigners introduced by the State Department in connection with the spread of the coronavirus”, Zakharova said.
She also recalled that on 11 March, the White Helmets leader delivered a speech in the US Senate, in what was preceded by the group’s representatives meeting the US Special Representative for Syria near the Turkish-Syrian border.
According to her, these meetings took place against the backdrop of Washington’s new anti-Russian information campaign over the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
“Of course, it is surprising that the White Helmets, which position themselves exclusively as a humanitarian organisation, are again at the centre of the West’s information manipulations that are aimed at distorting the real situation in Idlib […]. It seems that the possible implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreements, and the very idea of the Idlib de-escalation zone, causes such irritation in Washington that they are ready to use any excuse to unleash anti-Russian hysteria and undermine Syrian political settlement”, Zakharova emphasised.
