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Kerry says Russia, Syria violating UN resolution on aid, end to bombing on civilians

Xinhua, February 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia and Syria are not in compliance with a United Nations resolution on humanitarian aid and an end to aerial bombardment on civilians, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.

"This has to stop. Nobody has any question about that. But it's not going to stop just by whining about it. It's not going to stop by walking away from the table or not engaging," Kerry said at a joint press conference with Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos.

The third round of Syria peace talks, launched earlier this week amid intensive global attention, ground to a halt Wednesday night. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the talks would resume no later than Feb. 25.

On Thursday, Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed to resume Syrian talks in Geneva, Switzerland, as soon as possible during a phone call.

"While expressing common regret over the fact that the UN-brokered intra-Syrian dialogue has been temporarily suspended, Lavrov and Kerry agreed to make necessary efforts to ensure that this pause is as short as possible," said an online statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"The next days will tell the story of whether or not people are serious or people are not serious," Kerry said Friday.

The top U.S. diplomat said the Russians have made some constructive ideas about how a ceasefire could be implemented.

"But if it's just talk for the sake of talk in order to continue the bombing, nobody's going to accept that," he said. "And we will know that in the course of the next days." Endit