Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the US is “creating a Kurdish quasi-state” in Syria to smuggle oil and grain.
Lavrov talked about the work that Russia, Turkey, and Iran are carrying out within the framework of the Astana format to promote Syrian settlement. This came during a news conference in Moscow with his Tunisian counterpart, Nabil Ammar.
“We emphasized the continuing serious problems in the economy of the Syrian Arab Republic due to total illegitimate Western sanctions, and also because the US, creating a Kurdish quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, are smuggling the Syrian oil and the Syrian grain,” he said.
Lavrov underlined that he discussed the Palestinian-Israeli settlement with Ammar. He also indicated that without finding a solution to the conflict, it will be difficult to achieve “long-term improvement of the situation in the entire Middle East region.”
The Russian official highlighted that Moscow aims to boost ties with Tunisia, including expanding through economic ties, adding that the trade turnover reached $1.2 billion.
“We have separately focused on the prospects of organizing purchases of Russian grain. The first batch has already been delivered to Tunisia,” he said.
On his part, Ammar called Russia “an important partner,” and noted that the two countries have always maintained a good level of relations.
“We cooperate in different fields, and there are no exceptions or obstacles for us to move forward,” he stated.
