Inclusion of new terrorist groups in UN sanctions lists not to harm Syria peace talks - Churkin

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 /TASS/. The inclusion of Syrian groups Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh-al-Islam in the U.N. Security Council sanctions list will not harm the Syria peace talks, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told journalists on Wednesday ahead of a closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council. They are not taking part in the talks or observing the ceasefire regime. Time has come to call things their true names, the diplomat said when asked about the move’s possible consequences for the discussion. According to Churkin, Russia considers Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam to be terrorist organizations but did not insist on their inclusion in the Security Council’s list during the Geneva peace talks on the Syrian settlement whose regular round had ended on Tuesday. Some members of the International Syria Support Group looked at them as if they were their customers. But we see that they are not observing the ceasefire regime and are involved in terrorist activities. We felt there was no point in marking time and pushed for our request to blacklist them, Churkin explained. On April 26, Russia asked the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee to include the Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam groups in the United Nations sanctions list. The reason behind this move, according to Churkin, is that these groups, both fighting in Syria, have close links to terrorist organizations like the ISIS [the former name for the Islamic State terrorist group] and Al-Qaeda; have supported them and have been receiving financial, material, technical and military aid from them. The inclusion of Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam in the list of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee will exclude them from the ceasefire regime in Syria and would make it possible to deliver strikes at them, Churkin said. Read more