Russia rejects UN’s claims on war crimes in Syria

Russia on Tuesday rejected a claim by United Nations investigators that Russian air attacks in Syria amounted to a war crime by targeting civilian areas.
On Monday, a UN commission published a report which finds that the actions of Russia and Turkey in Syria could amount to war crimes by both Moscow and Ankara. Russia backs the Syrian government’s forces, while Turkey supports the rebels that the government fights.
The commission said it had evidence that Russian planes participated in two air attacks in Idlib and in rural Damascus last July and August that killed more than 60 people. The investigators denounced “deliberate” attacks by the Syrian government and allied forces on protected civilian sites, including hospitals and schools.
“We do not agree with such accusations. It is obvious that no commission could have received reliable information on what is happening on the ground”, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and added: “Nothing is said about the attacks by terrorist groups, which makes any judgement issued by this commission one-sided”.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the escalating conflict. Turkey has recently opened the borders, allowing thousands of migrants to head for Europe. Analysts believe the decision aims to force the EU and NATO to support Turkey’s military operation in Idlib.
Some 400,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Syria since a series of street protests against al-Assad’s rule in 2011 disintegrated into a proxy conflict drawing in countries throughout the Middle East.