MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Moscow is concerned over the refusal of militants from Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization [banned in Russia] to leave Aleppo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We are deeply concerned that despite the goodwill gestures which Moscow and Damascus have made, we see militants from Jabhat al-Nusra refusing to leave the city," he said.
The minister said that the Ahrar al-Sham group, which is considered moderate by the West, also associates with al-Nusra and is not leading its militants out of Aleppo.
According to Russia, all terrorist groups operating in Aleppo "are subordinate one way or another to Jabhat al-Nusra, which runs things in eastern Aleppo," Lavrov said.
In addition to that, terrorists "are preventing the exit of civilians from eastern Aleppo, using threats, blackmail and brute force," Lavrov said.
The minister said that the militants are also preventing "the exit of those militants who accepted the opportunities the UN, Russia and the Syrian government gave them for the purposes of their leaving this region and thus ceasing their association with terrorists."