Russia denies building military base in ancient city of Palmyra

According to AP, Russia recently built a new military barracks in the ancient city of Palmyra, which was recaptured by Syrian government forces from the Islamic State (IS) in March.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of Syria's Department of Museums and Antiquities, told the Associated Press that Russia is building small barracks with offices and medical clinics, but said his department did not grant Russia permission to build the structures.

AP quoted an anonymous official from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as saying it was unclear whether the base Russia was building was located in the buffer zone leading to the archaeological site, but that the base did not pose any threat to the relic site.

In addition to the above sources, AP also cited satellite images from a US cultural heritage research school showing structures being built in the ancient city of Palmyra.

The US news agency also confirmed that the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Syrian government allowed them to build military barracks in this area, but only temporarily.

Immediately after this information was released, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially denied it. Russia Today on May 18 quoted General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, as saying: "There is no new military base in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, and there never will be."

Referring to the satellite images cited by AP, General Konashenkov said that in fact they showed a field camp for Russian demining engineers in the ancient city of Palmyra that has now been extended to the area of ​​the city of Tadmor. According to the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, the establishment of this temporary camp until the area is cleared of mines was approved by the Ministry of Culture and other Syrian state agencies.

The ancient city of Palmyra, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, was occupied by IS and many of its heritages were destroyed since May 2015. At the end of March 2016, Syrian government forces recaptured Palmyra. This important victory is considered a major turning point in the fight against IS in Syria.

According to Thanhnien