Russia says Syria agrees to aid access from Iraq, Turkey, Jordan

Russia said on June 17 it has gained Syrian approval to open four border crossings from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey to deliver aid to millions of people under a "far-reaching formula" proposed to U.N. Security Council members.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin declined to elaborate on the formula, but diplomats familiar with the plan said it involved using international monitors to inspect humanitarian aid convoys entering Syria.

Veto-wielding council members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - have been negotiating a humanitarian resolution drafted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan to boost aid deliveries in Syria, including across rebel-held borders. Russia presented its formula to those seven states on June.

Churkin said Syria had accepted Moscow's plan to open the four border crossings named in the draft text.

"It's a pretty innovative approach to doing things. So we hope it's going to work and we hope it's going to help the humanitarian agencies to work on the ground in Syria, including in areas which are not controlled by the government," he said.

"It is a far reaching formula which will allow to open those four crossing points in which the humanitarian agencies were interested," Churkin told reporters, adding he hoped the draft resolution could be adopted within days. But Western diplomats said they need time to study Russia's proposal and consult with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on whether it could work on the ground. A draft resolution would also still need to be circulated to the remaining seven council members before a vote.

The Security Council achieved rare unity in unanimously approving a resolution in February that demanded rapid, safe and...