The Russian defence ministry on Thursday supported a proposal by the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura for a 48-hour weekly humanitarian truce in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

“As a means to broaden the scale of the humanitarian mission in Aleppo, the Russian defence ministry is ready to back the UN proposal to introduce the 48-hour pauses, which would allow the city’s population to be supplied with food and medication, and for vital infrastructure damaged by terrorist shelling to be restored,” said General Igor Konashenkova, spokesman for the Russian defence ministry to reporters.

“A more precise date and time will be determined after receiving information about the readiness of the convoys from the UN representatives and receiving confirmation of the security guarantees of their safe travel from our American partners,” Konashenkov said.

Earlier in the day, De Mistura called for a humanitarian truce for 48 hours a week in Aleppo during a press conference held in the Swiss city of Geneva.

De Mistura said he had suspended a weekly meeting for humanitarian task force members after only eight minutes as “a symbol of deep concern and as a sign of respect towards the World Humanitarian Day”.

“It is also a sign of deep unhappiness about the fact that due to the lack of a pause, no humanitarian aid is reaching anywhere in Syria at the moment except Deir-ez-Zor,” he added.

Source: middleeastmonitor.com