Kremlin Warns West against Bypassing U.N. on Syria
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday cautioned against attempts to circumvent the authority of the United Nations as the West seeks to secure Moscow's support in the Syria crisis.
"There's a need to eliminate any loopholes allowing (nations) to act in circumvention of the authority of the Security Council and use force without its approval," Medvedev told a European security conference in Moscow.
"Such attempts are regularly made under various guises," he told the conference attended by European dignitaries.
"The reasoning is simple, we hear it regularly. We can't agree within the United Nations. This means it is imperfect or policies of certain states are imperfect.
"Then we will agree to act unilaterally for the sake of peace, for the sake of democracy. Where is the priority of international law here?"
Moscow, he added, has been increasingly hearing "ultimatum-like statements containing threats of armed outside interference."
"I believe them to be very dangerous. This tendency is simply unacceptable," he said in televised remarks.
The U.N. Security Council has seen Russia regularly wrangling with its Western partners over international hot spots, most recently Libya and Syria.
Western powers have urged Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto powers, to use its influence with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to persuade it to end a deadly crackdown on protesters.
Russia had blocked two resolutions on Syria, but earlier this week backed a Western-drafted statement that called on Assad to work toward a cessation of hostilities and a democratic transition.
U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan will travel this weekend to Moscow to discuss the crisis with president-elect Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, his spokesman said in Geneva.
24 March 2012, 00:09
00
Russia can't do anything if Western countries decide to bypass the United Nations.. what will they do? Send their one and only aircraft carriers that dates back to 1985?
24 March 2012, 01:26
00
Russia is effectively a 3rd world country, led by a huge ego and Mafia-like oligarchy. Yet, they still maintains a seat on the UNSC after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The same thing occurred at the onset of the Balkan wars. Russia held up the security council while Muslims were being slaughtered, until NATO intervened with a bombing campaign. Russia sat quietly despite the close relationship with Serbia.
Russia knows fully well that such a scenario may occur again. And like the Balkans, it will take a long time, but it will happen.Their best policy would be to play hardball and gain as much influence on the event, but in the end yield to the inevitable.
