MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Russia proposes setting up a UN commission to assess the humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Raqqah, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"We suggest that the UN should soon create and lead an international assessment humanitarian commission to look at and assess what is really happening in Raqqah into which no one has yet been allowed, neither the media nor humanitarian organizations," Shoigu said at a meeting of senior defense officials on Monday.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Raqqah is currently in a "critical epidemiological situation," he said. "A large number of dead bodies remain there, not all rubble has yet been removed, and in some places, some locations, this work has not even started yet due to the large quantity of unexploded items," the minister said.
The situation in Raqqah prevents delivering humanitarian aid there and restoring the city, he said. "Naturally, people cannot return there due to this," Shoigu said.