Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman: "This is difficult to watch. It's hard to believe especially given the hysterical reaction that the United State and other Western countries and NGOs have expressed in relation to the rights of Syrians. It's actually hard to believe. Nonetheless, I'm compelled to make this data public. During the clearing up of the debris caused by airstrikes in Al-Hadiqa and Al-Baida the Ar-Rashid Stadium and the local zoo over 4,000 dead bodies were found, which were mostly women, the elderly, and children. In addition, a mass grave with over 2,500 bodies was found on a farm near a pediatric clinic and the National Hospital. Another burial ground with 1,500 bombing victims was uncovered in the Panorama area. The letters noted that in Raqqa which was almost razed to the ground only 2% of the debris had been cleared at this point. This is a particularly horrifying find. The scale is horrifying. And it's just 2% of the city or rather the place that used to be a city.
A lot of people were unnerved by the statement made yesterday regarding the new anti-Russian sanctions. The statement was made in Washington. We are watching with interest the spectacle that continues to play out in the US. The State Department reported to Congress the other day that Russia was not abiding by the US law on chemical and biological arms control and allegedly should be "punished" for this. Let me remind you that as early as August Washington announced the intention to use sanctions envisaged by this law against Russia in connection with the supposed poisoning of Sergey and Yulia Skripal in the UK. It is unclear whether this poisoning actually took place because nobody has seen the victim. We saw only Yulia Skripal on screen, but no one had the opportunity to talk to her. Despite this, they invited us to take the non-existent blame upon ourselves as they repeatedly did in the case of the invented "Russian meddling" in the US elections. You might remember that we were urged to confess what we had not done.
Now they are launching the procedure to introduce new sanctions. What can I say? We have become used to this attitude. It's nothing new for us. We also understand the reasons behind it: They go on with their Russia containment policy and, of course, there is a host of domestic political problems in the US. I think these days we are seeing yet another upsurge in antagonism, a split in American society and in political forces, and the impossibility to find common ground for consolidation. This is exactly why, in keeping with the best traditions, an external enemy is needed and a feint of diverting attention to an external threat. And this threat is already in existence given how much money and effort has been put into anti-Russia propaganda.
I'd like to recall that since 2011 the US has imposed various restrictions and bans on Russia 62 times. New excuses are found with the passage of time. We understand that new sanctions may follow that will be adopted with the same ease and irresponsibility as before. Regrettably, this approach has become routine for the US but this is not an indication of its power, but rather a sign of its weakness in resolving real problems facing the US including international problems. This approach is aimed to divert attention from the impossibility of taking any steps to deal with the issues on the agenda.
Naturally, it is impossible to intimidate Russia with ultimatums. But it's the professional position of the politicians that make these statements is frightening. I'd like to stress that Russia had destroyed its arsenal of chemical weapons long ago as was duly verified and confirmed by OPCW representatives. Meanwhile, the US has not yet fulfilled its commitments to destroy its chemical stockpiles and is continuously postponing the completion of this process. I am sure that those who spoke about the need to punish Russia for failing to comply with the US law on control over chemical and biological arms are simply unaware of that. If so, we can remind them. So, the Americans should apply their own law to themselves. Is this absurd compared to what is being said in regards to Russia? Yes, this is absurd. What is scary, therefore, is the positions of the people who invent and promote these sanctions. We are calling on the United States to do exactly as I said: to apply their own law to themselves and punish those in the US who urge terrorists in Syria to stage provocations involving the use of toxic chemicals intending to lay the blame on Damascus, for instance. Washington's attempt to divert the world's attention from its own sins and real crimes will not work. History has proved this more than once.
Speaking of the positions of the American politicians I can't ignore the fact that yesterday, the State Department published online materials that included a map of Russia. In those materials, American diplomats express their doubts regarding the Russian concern about the expansion of the global military presence of NATO and the US. Here's the map. It was published under the intriguing headline of "You can use this map when talking to those who believe that NATO is surrounding Russia." It's just a map of Russia with the marked borders of the NATO countries which border our country. The idea was that Russia only borders a few NATO-countries and has nothing to be afraid of. Are they serious? It's something on a kindergarten or nursery school level. I believe that today's children have a much better developed analytical mind than of those who create fakes like this one.
I'd like to show you another piece. It was prepared by the RIA agency in 2015. It's an infographic. It marks the global military presence of a single NATO member, the US. It explicitly illustrates the presence of American military bases around the world and in the direct vicinity of our borders. I believe that this material might be a good read for all of those who speak about the expansion of NATO the US's global military and Russia's concerns in that regard. We will definitely draw the attention of our State Department counterparts to this particular map and enrich their mind.
You know, perhaps the US President is too busy fighting fakes spread by CNN to notice that the State Department subordinate to his administration keeps practicing their trade producing fakes on an industrial scale.
I'd like to recall one thing that we bring up regularly. Russia strictly opposes the expansion of NATO and its military infrastructure towards the borders of Russian and the military build-up in the neighboring regions as actions that violate the principle of equal and indivisible security and lead to the deepening of the old and the appearance of new divides in Europe".
