He said it depended primarily on Moscow and the Syrian regime “whether the dying continued in Aleppo”, and spoke of a letter to Merkel by 30 doctors who had remained in the city, in which they had appealed to her for urgent help.
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He said Russia’s promise of three-hour cease-fires to allow humanitarian aid into Aleppo “is meant to sound like a concession, but is actually cynicism, since everyone knows that this time is nowhere near enough to really restore supplies to desperate people”.
Seifert said it is essential for supplies to get into Aleppo.
A limited number of pickup trucks carrying vegetables have made their way into Aleppo since the rebels’ offensive on Saturday evening.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Syrian rebels had used temporary ceasefires in and around Aleppo to regroup and rearm.
Shoigu said in the TV interview that extremists in Syria are often positioned near groups that the USA considers moderate. Steinmeier has called for United Nations-controlled humanitarian corridors into the city and aid to be airdropped.
In a speech to students at the Ural Federal University Yekaterinburg, also attended by Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Steinmeier urged Russian Federation to provide help.
“But the main result has been terrorists replenishing their numbers by 7,000 people, not to mention a large quantity of guns and munitions”, he added, saying it would be necessary “to resolve issues in the fight against the terrorists” before prolonging the ceasefires.
The Russian military is fighting alongside Syrian government forces besieging the northern city.
Syrian Observatory For Human Rights released figures Sunday that at least 327 civilians, including 76 children and 41 women, were killed in Aleppo over the past 15 days.
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The Islamic state group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that struck a bus transporting rebels through a border crossing between Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province and Turkey, killing more than 30 fighters.
