MOSCOW (Sputnik) — International sanctions on the Syrian government have deteriorated the humanitarian situation in Syria, the Middle Eastern country’s Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said Thursday.
"Strict unilateral economic sanctions imposed by Europe, America and countries orbiting them resulted in deteriorated humanitarian situation in the country and negatively affected medical and food spheres," the diplomat told reporters in Moscow.
With the Syrian crisis in its sixth year, the UN’s World Food Programme estimates that some 13.5 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, almost half of them children. Around 4.5 million live in hard-to-reach places and close to a half a million are trapped in besieged areas with no access to food, water, electricity or medical supplies.
In spring, the European Union extended sanctions against Syria until June 2017, including oil embargo, investment curbs, and bans on exports of equipment and technologies that can be used for internal repression, surveillance and interception of Internet traffic and telephone conversations.
