In July, the head of the state-run Syrian Petroleum Company Farhan Jamil Abdullah told the Chinese Xinhua News Agency that oil production had dramatically decreased due to the US sanctions and American military presence in Syria.
Back then, Syrian Oil Minister Firas Hassan Kaddour requested investment in the energy sector and the reconstruction of Syria's infrastructure, revealing that the country has lost around $100 billion in its mineral, oil, and gas industries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of smuggling oil and grain.
"Washington and its allies, illegally occupying territories in the northeast and south of Syria, are involved in the smuggling of oil and grain, depriving the Syrian population of bread and energy resources," the ministry said in a statement.
Humanitarian aid is not being provided to Syria due to a chronic lack of funding, the ministry said.
"Proper humanitarian assistance is not being provided to Syria not because of problems with access, but because of a chronic lack of funding... Despite all the sweeping statements, Western donors do not fulfill their obligations even to allocate funds for urgent assistance, not to mention projects in the field of early recovery and assistance to the return of refugees," the ministry said.
On the contrary, the US and the EU continue to "strangle" the Syria economy with illegal unilateral sanctions that prohibit the import of "dual-use goods" like basic building materials and generators, medicines and medical equipment, the ministry concluded.