Transcript of Remarks by UN Special Envoy, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, following meeting with Russian Federation Defense Minister, Mr. Sergey Shoigu

SdeM: First of all, allow me to say a few words, this is the fourth time we are having a useful, and in my opinion, very constructive discussion with Minister Shoigu.

With Minister Shoigu we discussed of course the humanitarian access to eastern Ghouta in particular, and Douma, which is, you know, very urgent, and the way to ensure the protection of civilians.

And then we discussed also the follow-up to Sochi, and how Sochi and Astana can contribute, must contribute, to the political process in Geneva, which is the only one internationally recognized.

There are two words that became very clear, one is sense of urgency, both on the humanitarian access and humanitarian assistance from the UN to those civilians who are in need, and protection, and the second one is: urgent to revitalize and launch the Geneva process and the follow-up to Sochi in terms of declaration.

I assured Minister Shoigu that the UN in Damascus and in the whole region is ready to intervene with humanitarian aid as soon as possible, what they need is access.

Question: There has been a concern about Syrian Raqqa, reportedly we are talking about major humanitarian problem, we are talking about lack of food, we are talking about absence of drinking water, practically we are talking about human bodies in the streets of the city, how is this going to be addressed through the United Nations and with the help of the United Nations?

SdeM: We just discussed that, it is not only Raqqa there are other places in Syria which are in need of a humanitarian assessment. While we are talking we asked and obtained a permission for a special multi-agency mission to leave from Damascus to Raqqa in order to assess what are the needs, what are the requirements, what type of humanitarian emergency is there, as we want to do in many other places, in Afrin, in Homs, in Rukban and particularly in eastern Ghouta.

In other words, first a mission to see what is the reality, and then our proposal, requirements and initiative.

Thank you very much.


Moscow, 29 March 2018