"As soon as the [Geneva] meeting was convened, aerial bombing continued and the ground operation started in Aleppo… It was extremely difficult for Staffan de Mistura [UN envoy for Syria] to continue at this time," Ban Ki-moon said during an interview with the FT in London.
The author of the article also claims that "in carefully chosen words, Mr Ban warned that Russia and Syria were not being "faithful" in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254 adopted in December."
However, it seems that Ban Ki-moon wasn’t the only person who was "carefully choosing" their words.
Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary General, said in an official letter sent to FT that while many of the quotes attributed to Ban Ki-moon in the article are technically correct, "they are framed in a way that attributes to him direct language that is incorrect."
For example, Dujarric points out that the exact answer given by Ban Ki-moon regarding the resolution 2254 was "I sincerely hope that the parties should be more faithful in implementing this resolution."
"It is well known that there are many parties to this conflict. The Secretary-General was not referring specifically to "Russian and Syria." The Secretary-General does indeed choose his words carefully. Had he wanted to refer only to those two parties specifically, he would have," Dujarric remarks.
He also stresses that neither the interviewer nor the Secretary General mentioned Russia by name while dealing with the question related to the military events' impact on the Geneva talks.
He also points out another part of the article which states that "Russia's increased military support for the Assad regime has 'impacted very negatively,' on the process the Security Council resolution set in train, according to Mr Ban."
Apparently, this paragraph too became a subject to author’s creative interpretation of Ban Ki-moon’s words.
"In discussing the Geneva talks and the action on the ground, Mr. Jones says to the Secretary-General that "in many ways the decisions though might not be made in the room [Geneva talks] in the sense that the military events are moving so quickly now. For a lot of the rebel groups feel that they might not exist in few weeks’ time." In his answer the Secretary-General says: "That affected very negatively. As soon as this meeting' convened then aerial bombing continued, the ground operations by the Syrian government forces started in Aleppo."
"We would very much appreciate you take action to publish the corrections that are necessary to accurately reflect what the Secretary-General actually said," Dujarric concluded.
