MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expects that the positive role of Russia in the Syrian settlement will help improve the humanitarian situation in the country, ICRC Regional Director for the Middle East Robert Mardini said during his meeting with Konstantin Kosachyov, head of Russia's Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, in Moscow on Thursday.
From the very start of the Syrian conflict, the ICRC has maintained a dialogue with Russia on humanitarian and other kinds of issues. This dialogue has been getting deeper and broader and especially so after Russia started to take part in military operations in Syria last September, Mardini said.
The ceasefire regime in Syria is more or less observed and this has a favorable impact on the conditions in which the country's population lives. The ceasefire regime has been maintained for five days now and by and large, it is respected, observed, although there are certain exemptions, Mardini went on.
The result of the truce is some positive dynamics obtained in the development of the situation from the population's perspective, as local residents can somehow take a breather now, Mardini said.
The ICRC hopes that the ceasefire regime will allow for the giving of humanitarian aid and an increase in its scale, he added.