The Kremlin was responding to UN investigators accusing Moscow of being party to airstrikes in Syria targeting civilian areas indiscriminately. The dispute coincides with mounting tension in Syria's Idlib province.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. Said
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Russia on Tuesday rejected allegations made by the UN that 2019 airstrikes in Syria amounted to a war crime because they indiscriminately targeted civilian areas.
"We strongly reject these claims," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "It's obvious that one committee cannot have reliable information of what is happening on the ground."
Russia's Tass news agency said the Peskov accused the UN commission of being "biased."
A report released Monday by the UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria said it found evidence that Russian planes were involved in airstrikes on a crowded market in July and on a camp for displaced people in Syria in August last year.
The Syrian army, supported by Russia, is bombing the northern region of Idlib. Refugees are streaming toward the Turkish border, fleeing the continued fighting. The United Nations has warned of an imminent "bloodbath."
Image: picture-alliance/AA/E. Hacioglu
On the run
Traffic is heavy on the roads heading north through the Idlib region toward the Turkish border. Soldiers of the Assad regime are advancing from the south and east, aided by their Russian and Iranian allies. Some Syrian rebel groups are supported by Turkey, which also has soldiers of its own in the region. But ordinary people just want to reach safety.
Image: Reuters7K. Ashawi
'Horror has multiplied'
Almost 1 million people have been displaced since December. According to UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, "the horror has multiplied" in the past two weeks. The front lines are closing in, triggering large movements of people in the space of just a few days. Assad wants to drive the civilian population out of Idlib province, and is moving to capture this last rebel stronghold.
Image: Reuters/K. Ashawi
Bombed to pieces
Maaret al-Numan and the surrounding area has been particularly badly hit by the attacks. The city has been bombed to pieces and is practically deserted. The important M5 highway runs through here, from Damascus via Aleppo to the Turkish border. Most of those fleeing are trying to make it to Turkey — but the border is closed.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. Said
Waiting at the border
Around 100 people, including 35 children, died in bombings in the first half of February alone, according to the United Nations, which has spoken of the "blatant disregard for the life and safety of civilians." This family fled to the Turkish border months ago. They're living in the Kafr Lusin refugee camp, holding on to the hope that Turkey will eventually let them in.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
500,000 children in need
Out of the almost 1 million people who have fled it's estimated that around half are children. Of the rest, the majority are women. There aren't enough shacks at the Turkish border to house them all, and many refugees are living in tents. Camps are often set up in haste and are severely overcrowded. People are sleeping in doorways and on pieces of cardboard, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Little food and medicine
Those who have been able to find a tent usually share it with about a dozen family members. Medicine is running out in many of the camps, and basic food and clothing is also becoming scarce. Doctors on the ground report that many children are suffering from malnutrition, and some are even dying of starvation. The cold is also taking its toll, and some people have already frozen to death.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Refuge in a school
Many children in the region can no longer go to school, so some school buildings have been repurposed. This school has been turned into a refugee shelter — sometimes, even the refugee camps are targeted in bombing raids.
Image: Getty Images/B. Kara
Trying to reach safety
The illegal route across the border to Turkey is costly; hardly anyone can afford it. Smugglers are charging people up to $2,000 (about €1,800). Those who do make the attempt are risking their lives: Turkish border guards have thermal imaging cameras to help them spot people trying to cross. Sometimes they shoot at refugees who try to climb over the wall.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Watad
Looking for dignity
The UN has said the situation in Idlib could be the greatest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century. No one knows whether or not there will be a ceasefire. The refugees don't care who puts an end to the war; they just want a life of safety and dignity, for themselves and for their children. A four-way summit between Turkey, Russia, France and Germany, planned for March 5, is now in jeopardy.
Image: Getty Images/B. Kara
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More than 60 people were killed in the strikes in Idlib and rural Damascus.
"In both incidents, the Russian Air Force did not direct the attacks at a specific military objective, amounting to the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas,'' the commission said, citing witness accounts, video footage and flight communication intercepts, among other data.
'War crimes' perpetrated on nearly all sides
The UN-backed Human Rights Council on Monday said there was evidence that war crimes were committed by nearly all sides in the Syrian conflict.
"It is scandalous that the international community has not been able ... to deal with the situation," UN Syria commission chair Paulo Pinheiro told reporters.
UN investigators also warned Turkey on Monday that it may have "criminal responsibility" for war crimes against Kurds in northern Syria last year. From July 2019 to January 10 of this year, Ankara-backed Syrian rebels were accused of carrying out executions, seizing homes and looting.
"If any armed group members were shown to be acting under the effective command and control of Turkish forces, these violations may entail criminal responsibility for such commanders who knew or should have known about the crimes," the report warned.