State Department Should Obtain Disclosures for Russian Arms Shipments to Syria

Washington, D.C. — Today, in response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks voicing concern that weapons shipped to Syria from Russian arms dealers are being used in the ongoing atrocities there, Human Right’s First’s Sadia Hameed issued the following statement: “Russian made attack helicopters such as Mil Mi 24 (Mi 25) have been identified by citizens and reporters as a new tactic used in recent months in attacks by the Syrian regime on civilians in areas of Idlib, Rastan and Lattakia. While many of the attack helicopter models currently used by the Syrian regime may have been imported a long time ago, any new shipments of such equipment to Syria is very worrying given their possible use against civilians. For this reason, Human Rights First has called on Secretary Clinton to obtain the disclosure of cargo manifests for Russian arms shipments to Syria over the past 16 months, to verify that Russia is in fact not providing the Syrian regime with weapons that are being or can be used to target civilians, as they have recently claimed.”