Russia to continue humanitarian assistance to Syria - Russian UN envoy

UNITED NATIONS, March 15. /TASS/. Russian will continue to extend humanitarian assistance to Syrians even after the bulk of its air group is withdrawn from that country, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday after a closed meeting of the United Nations Security Council. "First, our presence (in Syria) will remain. I think our possibilities in terms of rendering humanitarian assistance in Syria will be preserved and out cooperation with relevant United Nations agencies will stay in place," he said. The Kremlin press service said late on Monday after a telephone conversation between Russian and Syrian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, that the two leaders agreed to withdraw the main part of Russia’s air group from that country as "the Russian Armed Forces had fulfilled the fundamental tasks, which had been assigned to them." Russia however will keep an air flights control center in Syria to monitor the observation of the ceasefire regime, the Kremlin said. An order was issued to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to begin troops pullout starting March 15. Read more