MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for discussing an attack on the Armenian-populated town of Kesab in northern Syria by extremist groups linked to al-Qaeda at the UN Security Council.
"The UN Security Council should discuss the situation in Kesab and issue its principled judgment about these events," the ministry said in a commentary on Tuesday.
The area surrounding Kesab, which is located 65 kilometers away from Latakia in northwestern Syria, where Armenians have lived as a colony for centuries since the existence of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, "was brutally attacked by units numbering in several thousands belonging to the extremist groups of Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar ash-Sham linked to al-Qaeda," the Foreign Ministry said.
"There were no military facilities in the historical Armenian enclave struck by the international gang of murderers and rapists," it said.
These people have found refuge with their relatives and at churches belonging to various Christian denominations in Latakia, it said.
"As for a video posted on Youtube, even if, as some sources claim, it shows not the execution of Armenians in Kesab but the gunmen's merciless retribution to Syrian army soldiers, this does not make this crime less monstrous," it said.
"We strongly condemn the atrocities committed by extremists in Syria. We believe it is especially important in the current conditions to attain the goal set at the G8 summit at Lough Erne to seek consolidation of the Syrian government's and the opposition's efforts to eradicate terrorism on Syrian soil and smash and evict extremists," it said.
"Any runarounds aimed at postponing practical steps to this effect before the formation of a transition governing body in Syria, not to mention attempts to justify the terrorists' crimes, are absolutely unacceptable," the ministry said. "It is necessary to act without delay," it said.