The Kremlin refused to consider the fall of Palmyra to ISIS once again as “a loss to Russia” and vowed that his country is working to expel it from the city. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that the “city of Palmyra is a Syrian city before everything” and stressed that “Russia is not the one losing Palmyra”. This appears to be a reference to the Syrian regime’s forces being responsible for the defeat and an attempt to hold international parties responsible for what happened.

In statements that he made yesterday, Dmitry Peskov said that the fall of Palmyra is a “blow to the reputation of all civilized humankind and those who are sitting without doing anything. He also described the possible loss of Palmyra as “a blow to the entire civilised humankind rather than to Russia”, and said that it will harm the “entire civilised world that is incapable of cooperating and is doing nothing to address international terrorism that is represented by ISIS”. According to the Kremlin’s vision that Peskov explained, “the pressure on the terrorists and their expulsion from Mosul in Iraq has helped them to form a large group of forces that has moved to launch an attack on Syrian territory”.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that ISIS exploited the fact that the international coalition led by the United States has suspended military operations near Raqqa to attack Palmyra. The Russian Chief of the Directorate of Media service and Information of the Ministry of Defence Igor Konashenkov said that “Seizing on the suspension of active military action near Raqqa till spring by the US and international coalition, Islamic State devoted considerable forces to storm Palmyra.”