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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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21Oct16
Moscow says Belgian defense minister tries to distract attention from Hassadjek attack
Russia's Defense Ministry has called on Belgium to conduct a transparent and impartial investigation of the airstrike on the Syrian village of Hassadjek, requesting the necessary data from the US, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.
"If the Belgian authorities are really willing to sort out their Air Force's actions and identify those responsible for the bombing of the Kurdish village of Hassadjek, then they should conduct a transparent and impartial investigation that will involve requesting the air situation data from their US allies," he said.
According to Konashenkov, Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput is trying to distract attention from the Hassadjek tragedy using "knowingly negligible" excuses.
"The attempts by the head of the Belgian Defense Ministry to distract the public's attention from the tragedy, using statements knowingly negligible for any professional cause deep bewilderment. This speaks either about either Mr. Vandeput's misunderstanding of the document handed over by the Russian side or the desire of the US Armed Forces Central Command responsible for the issuance of target acquisition data to aircraft of the international coalition in Syria to get away from responsibility for the death of six Syrian civilians," Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov pointed out that Russia's Defense Ministry had already provided a "per minute report of the Belgian fighter jets actions on October 18, from taking off to landing."
The Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria reported about an air strike against the settlement of Hassadjek near Aleppo on October 18. The air strike killed six and wounded another four people.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the settlement of Hassadjek had been attacked by Belgian F-16 fighter jets. However, Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput rejected these accusations.
The Russian Defense Ministry presented its data on the flights of Belgian combat planes over Syria, indicating that the fighter jets had been identified by Russian and Syria air defense means.
The Belgian military has said, however, that the planes' identification numbers provided by Moscow are "incorrect" and demanded that the Russian side should "officially give up unsubstantiated accusations."
[Source: Itar Tass, Moscow, 21Oct16]
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