Hosam Katan/File Photo/Reuters
Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu said at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in October that more than 503 thousands square kilometers of Syrian territory were liberated from the militants. This number is nearly three times the official UN data one, which estimates Syria’s total land area to be 185 thousands square kilometers.
According to Govorit Moskva (Moscow speaks) radio station, reserve-officer training department chief of Moscow State Institute of International Relations Ivan Maruschak asked the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to explain the discrepancy. In his interview to the radio station, he said he had received a response statement that called UN’s data “not entirely correct”.
“The exact measurements by Russia’s Ministry of Defense show that the total land area of the Syrian Arab Republic is much larger and is 529,708 square kilometers,” the statement says.
Alleged response. Click to see the full-size image
The Defense Ministry’s statement allegedly explained the discrepancy by saying that their data regarding total Syrian land area took the mountain and ravine reliefs with river bottoms into account. According to the ministry that explains why the Defense Minister did not make a mistake.
As of now Govorit Moskva has taken down the report of the interview from their website.
