MOSCOW - Russia sent a plane loaded with humanitarian aid to Syria on Thursday.

An Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft carrying 38 tons of sugar, canned fish and meat, and baby food left here early Thursday morning and arrived in Syria at 9:35 am Moscow time (0535 GMT), the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and visiting European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, underscored the importance of providing "neutral and non-political humanitarian assistance to the Syrian population."

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow has provided $4.5 million to the UN Food Program, $1.5 million to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and 2 million Swiss francs ($2.14 million) to the International Red Cross for their humanitarian work in Syria.

Russia has also delivered 80 tons of humanitarian aid to Damascus in the past few months, the ministry said.