Moscow accused Washington on Sunday of trying to establish quasi-state structures east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria.
In an interview with a local television, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “Unacceptable things are happening on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River. The US is trying to establish quasi-state structures.”
“They earmark hundreds of millions of dollars into rebuilding these areas, so that people could return to a normal peaceful life, but they refuse to restore infrastructure on the territories, which are controlled by the Syrian government,” he added.
On the battlefield, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several violations have been committed in areas of the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone, mainly in the provinces of Idlib, Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.
“Regime forces renewed shelling areas in the villages and towns of these provinces,” the war-monitor said, adding that in return, the National Front for the Liberation of Syria launched missiles on areas controlled by regime forces.
It also documented that Bashar Assad's forces sent military reinforcements, hundreds of members and dozens of vehicles to areas where they deployed in Idlib and the demilitarized zone.
The actions further complicate a truce deal signed by Russia and Turkey at “Sochi” last September.
Lavrov said that in the past years, Moscow did not see that Western powers involved in the Syrian conflict have offered any alternative constructive strategy to the one outlined by Russia, Iran and Turkey at Astana.
He said: “Despite active and consistent steps of our Turkish colleagues, still not all extremists have met the demand to leave the 20-km demilitarized zone.”
