UPDATE - Russia urges to investigate Israel's UNRWA accusations before inflicting 'collective punishment'

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

By Burc Eruygur and Elena Teslova

ISTANBUL/MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged to investigate Israel's accusations that some staffers of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) collaborated with Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks before suspending funds for the humanitarian organization.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow following a meeting with his Gambian counterpart Mamadou Tangara, Lavrov said what is happening in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 26,000 people, is a "collective punishment prohibited by the international humanitarian law."

"If there are such accusations, we have to clear them out. From the very beginning, we condemned the terrorist attack on Oct. 7 and clearly said that it is necessary to fight terrorism in any of its manifestations with means that do not violate international humanitarian law. What has happened and is happening (in Gaza) is collective punishment, it is prohibited under international humanitarian law," he stressed.

Lavrov said if an investigation is conducted the facts will be known about whether Israel's allegations have any grounds.

"But if the investigation is being cancelled, and instead there will be a collective punishment of the UNRWA and those, to whom it provided assistance, than I believe that this is a wrong decision. I hope, that the UN management will raise these questions in contacts with Israeli representatives," he emphasized.

Several countries including the US, UK, Germany, France, Austria and Japan have suspended funds for the agency established in 1949 to cater to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

It is involved in primary and vocational education, primary healthcare, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, and emergency response.

The UN agency says it has opened an investigation into the allegations, and has severed ties with those staff members.

- Resolution of problems in ECOWAS through ‘equal, mutually respectful’ dialogue

Lavrov said Moscow expects that problems within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be resolved through “equal and mutually respectful” dialogue.

His comments come as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger jointly announced their immediate withdrawal from ECOWAS, saying the regional bloc is subservient to “foreign powers” and accusing it of "deviating from its founding ideals."

The Russian foreign minister said he and his Gambian counterpart reviewed the current situation in the Sahara-Sahel region, focusing particularly on the situation in hot spots, including the situation in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

“We expressed concern about the growing terrorist threat from jihadist organizations affiliated with the so-called Islamic State and Al-Qaeda,” Lavrov said, adding that the activity of these groups extends to other countries in West Africa.

For his part, Tangara said that the issues resulting in the countries' withdrawal from ECOWAS must be resolved through dialogue.

“Political dialogue is the most powerful tool of diplomacy,” he said, adding that Gambia calls on ECOWAS to engage in “serious dialogue with countries that have expressed their intention to leave the community.”

- US plans to deploy nuclear weapons to UK Lakenheath airbase

Asked about media reports claiming the US plans to deploy nuclear weapons at the Lakenheath airbase in the UK, Lavrov said: "Of course, we have heard about these reports. We are studying the source of this information and its reliability."

He emphasized that since NATO declared Russia "the main threat," "the enemy," Moscow has been considering all nuclear weapons of the three alliance's member countries -- France, the UK, US, as a single nuclear arsenal, which has Russia as its target.

"You know that the US also deployed its nuclear weapons in five European countries and trains citizens of these countries in the use of tactical nuclear weapons," he said.

Lavrov argued that "the configuration of the deployment of this arsenal may change," but the essence why it is stationed in Europe does not change.

"I assure you, this is fully taken into account in our planning," he said.