Damascus, Moscow, Ankara, and others have repeatedly criticized US efforts to continue to hold onto oil-rich areas of Syria, saying such actions are in blatant violation of international law.

Axar.az reports that the United States is looking to illegally separate territories on the eastern bank of the Euphrates and create a separate, illegal, quasi-state there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, speaking at the Paris Peace Forum on Tuesday.

"On the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, they are doing everything possible to create the structure for a quasi-state, and are asking the Gulf States for major investments in order to create a local administration on the basis of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurds - the YPG People's Protection Units and others, with the clear intention of breaking this piece of territory off from Syria, and controlling the oil fields located there," Lavrov said.
At the same time, Lavrov accused the US of prohibiting its allies from investing in Syria's reconstruction.