GENEVA (Sputnik) — The European Union’s sanctions against the Syrian government only serve to push temporarily displaced people in territories under its control out to Europe, Russian envoy to the UN Geneva Office Alexei Borodavkin warned in a Sputnik interview on Wednesday.
"The issue of some 7 million of temporarily displaced persons inside Syria is the key one. The majority of them live in government-controlled territories. If they do not receive help, they will flee Syria and go to Europe. But our European colleagues do not seem to notice this and maintain their unilateral sanctions against Syria…This short-sightedness is simply astonishing. Sanctions should be scrapped in order to keep temporarily displaced persons inside Syria," Borodavkin said.
Europe is facing its most serious migration crisis since the end of the Second World War, which is the result of the armed conflicts and economic problems in the Middle East and North Africa.
