Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday the United States was not fulfilling its obligations under the Syrian ceasefire agreement, as Moscow and Washington pointed fingers at each other for violating what had appeared to be a peaceful lull in fighting. The U.N. has described the situation as "dire". Moscow wants the U.N. Security Council to endorse the agreement when it meets next Wednesday, according to Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
The tenuous calm brought to Syria by a U.S. and Russian Federation ceasefire seems to be holding after an agreement by both parties to extend the deal for another 48 hours.
De Mistura said 40 aid trucks are ready to move and that the United Nations would prioritize delivery to the embattled, rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo.
Just a few hours earlier, nearby rebels said they had not withdrawn but that neither had Syrian troops.
Earlier, the United Nations Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura put most of the blame for the delay in aid delivery on the government of President Bashar Assad, which has not yet provided any so-called facilitation letters required by aid trucks to access civilians in need across the country.
Eid holiday Mr de Mistura said some people had used the argument that offices were closed during this week's Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, and the Syrian government had been "a little bit slow" during Eid, but he would not accept that as a valid reason.
He said, however, that the delivery of humanitarian aid that was part of the agreement reached by Russian Federation and the United States had not taken place because Assad's government had not issued the authorization letters that aid convoys need to pass through checkpoints. The ceasefire is expected to eventually lead to an unprecedented collaboration between Russian Federation and the United States against jihadi groups in Syria.
They said, however, that they will need to take assets from other parts of the world, because USA military leaders don't want to erode the current US -led coalition campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Russian officials have said the Syrian military is ready to pull out of the highway to allow safe passage of humanitarian aid into the city, Russian state news agency Tass reported. "Also, for the first time there has begun open online telecasting of the situation in the eastern part of Aleppo from a drone".
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Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov slammed what he called "rhetorical fog" intended "to hide the fact that the U.S. is not fulfilling its part of the obligations".
"We're going to be revealing sources and methods - there's no way to get around that", Francona said.
The text of the cease-fire agreement has not been released and Russian Federation said it was being kept private at the request of the United States.
Mr Bogdanov said "they key criteria, is action".
But Russia said on Thursday the United States was using "a verbal smokescreen" to hide its reluctance to fulfill its part of the agreement, including separating what it called moderate opposition units from terrorist groups.
The truce does not include the Islamic State group.
Senior defense and military officials told The Associated Press that they are sorting out how the U.S. -Russia military partnership will take shape and how that will change where U.S. equipment and people will be deployed.
It said government forces will not start pulling out until the rebels begin to do the same.
"That being said, the clock is ticking and time is of the essence". It also called for the US and Russia to begin Monday discussing the terms of a Joint Implementation Center, where the USA and Russian militaries would coordinate efforts to strike against the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front.
