Russia criticizes Trump's Golan Heights comment

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The change of status of the occupied Golan Heights is a direct violation of UN resolutions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet calling "to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights", spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "Russian position on the point is permanent."

The UN Security Council resolution 497 of 1981 reconfirmed the Golan Heights belongs to Syria, she recalled.

"Our assessment of the illegality of Israel's decision to extend its sovereignty to the Golan Heights, adopted as a basic law in 1981, remains unchanged. Changing the status of the Golan Heights bypassing the Security Council is a direct violation of UN decisions," she said.

Trump's tweet on Thursday came following congressional momentum building up on Capitol Hill for the change. The State Department last week changed its terminology for the first time on the contested territory referring to it as "Israeli-controlled" instead of its previous usage of "Israeli-occupied".

Israel has long pushed Washington to recognize its claim over the territory it seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the conflict. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

The U.S. for the first time voted against an annual UN resolution condemning Israel's control of the Golan Heights in November. In all, 151 nations voted in support, with just Israel and the U.S. voting against.