Moscow has offered to the EU to pay the post-war recovery of Syria.
The Syrian city of Homs, April 2016 (Photo: AP / Natalia Sancha)
Russia has proposed to the EU to allocate tens of billions of dollars for the post-war reconstruction of Syria, however, Western countries have embraced this idea unenthusiastically, the Financial Times newspaper reported.
Last week, at a meeting with EU ambassadors in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that soon, the main topic would be the post-war reconstruction of Syria, which would require tens of billions of dollars. At the same time, the Russian official noted that Russia is not going to finance the restoration of the destroyed country.
“The Russians really do not want to inherit a completely destroyed Syria,” one of the Middle East-based diplomats said.
However, as the Financial Times noted, the Moscow’s idea has not met support of Western countries. They point out that a part of the damages was caused by airstrikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces on major cities, including Aleppo. In addition, the UK, France and the Netherlands continue to believe that the war will not end if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stays in power.
It is expected that the issue of financing of the restoration of Syria will be discussed during peace talks in Geneva and Astana, where Russia intends to represent its version of a draft of a new Constitution of the country.
The newspaper claims, citing Russian experts on the Middle East, that currently, the main obstacle to political talks on Syria is the Iran’s position. “The Trump administration’s hard line on Iran could be very useful in getting Iran to make concessions. But for that we need a clear message from Washington,” a former Russian diplomat told the newspaper.
