EU’s Mogherini says no Cold War with Russia as Syria truce agreed

There is little optimism that the deal reached in Munich will do much to end a war that has lasted five years and cost 250,000 lives.

Zakharova named the agreement on the nationwide cessation of hostilities among the most significant results of the ISSG meeting in Munich.

The European Union’s senior diplomat said on Monday there was no Cold War climate between Moscow and the West as they agreed to a pause in the fighting in Syria, although Russia’s prime minister said tension was growing. “No one”, he said. Just 18 percent of those surveyed said they closely follow events in the country.

Speaking after a U.S.-Asian summit in California, President Barack Obama echoed the criticism.

Russian Federation had already “raised this question many times in [the UN] Security Council and also during negotiations with our American colleagues”, Zakharova stressed, adding that Russian Federation will “definitely” support Syria’s complaint to the UN Security Council over the Turkey’s provocative actions.

Obama asked Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday to put a stop to the airstrikes, but his requests will likely fall on deaf ears.

“A country has been shattered because Assad was willing to shatter it”, Obama added.

In terms of the Turkish shelling of Syrian territory, she said that Russian Federation “will do everything possible to draw the attention of the global community [to this problem] and will use the whole arsenal of diplomatic means in order to resolve this issue”.

A Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul that his country is pushing for ground operations in Syria, hoping for the involvement of the US and other allies against IS. Washington sees the Kurds as an effective fighting force against the Islamic State.

In Damascus, the United Nations envoy to Syria suggested that humanitarian aid would be allowed into several besieged areas Wednesday, calling it the “duty of the government of Syria”.

Four hospitals and a school were struck Monday in the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday, killing at least 46 people and injuring scores of others.

The ceasefire announced by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart last week appears most unlikely at this point.

In full acknowledgment of that position, Medvedev said the USA shouldn’t even think of sending in ground troops to support rebel forces because of how badly it failed in Afghanistan.