Head of the Syrian Coalition’s Department of Refugee Affairs, Amal Sheikho, said that Russia is still seeking the return of Syrian refugees outside the framework of the political solution and the implementation of UN resolutions, most importantly the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254.
Sheikho on Monday said that the Russian attempts continue at a time when the killings, detention and torture by the Assad regime and its allied militias continue unabated. She noted the Syrian refugees will face grave danger should they are forced to return in the current circumstances, citing a former Lebanese minister’s revelation about the Assad regime’s execution of returnees from Lebanon.
The recent remarks by Lieutenant General Mikhail Mezentsev of Russia regarding the extension of the grace period before the mandatory military service for the returning Syrian refugees confirmed that Russia insists on ignoring the Syrian people’s demands for comprehensive change, Sheikho said. She went to say that Russia is seeking to reduce the Syrian issue to the issues of the return of refugees and reconstruction while ignoring the real demands of the Syrian people for real change.
Sheikho noted that such remarks represent gross interference in the internal affairs of Syria as such an issue should be solely decided by the Syrian people seeking to build a democratic state that is based on freedom, dignity, justice, and equality.
Sheikho concluded her remarks by stressing that the safe return of Syrian refugees in line with the UN standards can only be ensured through a just political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people for change and for living a free and dignified life away from tyranny and repression. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
