Iran press/Asia:Russia has recorded flights of unidentified helicopters delivering weapons to the Taliban and ISIL units active in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
According Tass news agency ,"We would like to once again point to the flights of unidentified helicopters in northern Afghanistan, which deliver weapons and ammunition to local ISIL units and Taliban members cooperating with the group. In particular, the Afghan media and local residents say that such helicopters were seen in the Sar-e Pol Province," the Russian diplomat said.
"This is happening in close proximity to the borders of Central Asian states, while many of the ISIL militants active in Afghanistan come from those countries," Zakharova pointed out.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also said that the Afghan security agencies, as well as the Command of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, did not react to those helicopter flights. "In this regard, question arise - who is behind these flights, who provides weapons to terrorists and secretly creates springboards for them near the southern borders of the CIS and why is it happening at all, given NATO’s actual control of Afghanistan’s airspace," Zakharova said.
Talliban millitants
Zakharova said militants from ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups are hiding in Rukban refugee camp on the border with Jordan, using refugees as a human shield, with the knowledge of US military.
"The Syrian authorities and UN staff still have no access to Rukban, the biggest camp for internally displaced persons close to the Jordanian border," she said.
"Several hundred ISIL militants as well as al-Nusra militants, possessing heavy weaponry, are hiding among civilians who have found themselves hostages, and are using them as a human shield," she went on to say.
"Unfortunately, all this happens, and we have information confirming this, with the knowledge of the US military who control the 55-kilometer zone around their illegal base in Al-Tanf on the Syrian territory," she added.
The diplomat said Syria’s northeast remains in practice under the control of US military, who "continue pandering to local military units, in particular, buying their loyalty with weapons supplies".
"Thus, the process of setting up pseudo-state structures that are not envisaged by the Syrian legislation is in full swing in the Trans-Euphrates region," she stated.
According to Zakharova, Washington has practically started plundering Syria’s’ national wealth. "The US, that last week said it would stop financing some programs on stabilization of Syria, within the framework of which the activity of anti-government structures was financed in practice, has shifted responsibility to its allies," she said.
"Now they engage in restoring and updating the oil producing infrastructure in the northeast of Syria and in practice have started plundering the Syrian national wealth, this time not with their own means, but with the money received from other participants in the so-called US-led coalition, namely Europeans and Arabs.
Responding to US new sanctions against Russia
Russia's response to new US sanctions, imposed by the State Department in connection with the so-called "Skripal case", will be adequate to pressure that Washington puts on Moscow, official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, warned .
Yulia and Sergey skripal
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At the same time, Maria Zakharova didn't disclose details of the upcoming response.
"As you know, we give adequate response to all new sanctions, but we don't comment on working process during development of these measures," she said.
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"As always, we will respond adequately. We always emphasize that sanctions war is not our choice, Russia makes such decisions not because it wants to, but solely in response to sanctions of other states," official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
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