Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed media reports accusing the Syrian government of the escalation of violence in Aleppo.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed media reports accusing the Syrian government of the escalation of violence in Aleppo.

The true reason of violence in Aleppo is terrorist activity, not Damascus, Zakharova said, adding that Syrian opposition groups in the region are interlinked with terrorists.

"Not Syrian government forces are the main reason of the current escalation [in Aleppo]. The true reason are provocations of terrorists, who attempt to disrupt the ceasefire, which was established February 27."

On Wednesday, the United States and Russia agreed to extend the 'silent' period to Syria's Aleppo province.

The United States is unable to force Syrian opposition groups they support to cut ties with al-Nusra Front (Qaeda branch in the Levant) terrorists.

"Our American partners are so far incapable of forcing Syrian opposition groups they support to separate from al-Nusra Front."

She noted that al-Nusra Front terrorists get weapons and reinforcement via the Syrian-Turkish border.

"By hiding behind a number of armed opposition groups and sometimes engaging in tactical alliances with them, al-Nusra Front is trying to make up for their losses due to the influx of new fighters and weapons via the Turkish-Syrian border."

Moscow insists on a hard-line fight not only against al-Nusra Front terrorists, but also against so-called opposition groups like Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam, Zakharova said.

She added that the creation of a Russian-US center of monitoring the Syrian truce "has brought the cooperation on the crisis settlement to a new level."

"This cooperation could be more active, thus, more effective," she said.