Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has compared the terms for a civilian evacuation allegedly put forward by Ukrainian troops besieged at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to demands made previously by terrorists in Syria.
Speaking on Thursday, Peskov reacted to reports that the Ukrainian forces holed up at the plant wanted to exchange civilians held there for food and medicine.
Earlier an unnamed representative of the Russian Command in charge of the operation at the vast Azovstal plant made the claim to Russia’s Ria Novosti news outlet. The official told journalists that “we’ve seen such methods before, for instance in Syria,” where terrorists also tried to exchange people for food. According to the Ria Novosti report, “more than 200 civilians, including women, children and the elderly could be held in Azovstal’s underground tunnels and bunkers.”