Russia Urges Creation of International Demining Coalition for Syria

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov stated that Moscow calls on establishing an international coalition on demining Syria.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Moscow is calling on the international community to create an international coalition for demining Syria, Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said in a Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

‘’We would like to draw the attention of the international community and the United Nations to the significant to the contamination of the territory of Syria by mines, unexploded ordinance, IEDs,” Safronkov stated. “We regularly inform you of the significant activity by Russian experts to deal with these problems. We call on establishing an international coalition on demining Syria.”

On March 18, the International Mine Action Center of the Armed Forces of Russia announced that Russian specialists had begun demining the historic districts and residential neighborhoods of the Syria's Palmyra, a city registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The operation is expected to be completed within the next month or month and a half.

The Syrian civil war has been raging for nearly six years, and is being fought between government troops and numerous opposition and terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State (IS), outlawed in Russia.