Russia Says 'Cannot Support' Latest U.N. Syria Draft
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Russia's deputy foreign minister said Friday that Moscow could not support the latest U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Syria in its current form, the Interfax news agency reported.
"Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as us have been taken into consideration but all the same this is not enough for us to be able to support it in this form," deputy minister Gennady Gatilov said.
"We still have a whole number of concerns over the content of this text and we will be ready to continue consultations on the draft resolution," Gatilov said.
"We are ready to continue work on modifying it, taking into consideration and based on our principled positions."
He spoke after a senior U.S. State Department official said that Washington was "cautiously optimistic" about winning Russia's support for the draft.
The latest draft does not explicitly call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down or mention an arms embargo or sanctions, though it "fully supports" an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition.
The latest attempt at consensus emerged amid an impasse in the U.N. Security Council, with Russia leading the opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.
The new draft "fully supports" the January 22 Arab League request that Assad transfer power to a deputy and a government of national unity within two months but does not call on him to step down, according to a copy obtained by Agence France Presse.
Instead, it calls for a "Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system ... including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States' auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States."
Like previous versions, the draft "condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from."
Moscow, a long-standing Assad ally and one of his top arms suppliers, has declared that the U.N. body does not have authority to impose a resolution that calls for regime change in Syria, a position supported by China.
Moscow's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said Wednesday that Russia will use its veto to block any Security Council resolution on Syria that it deems unacceptable.
"We will not allow a text to be adopted that we consider to be incorrect and will lead to a deepening of the conflict," Churkin was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
Russia has stressed from the beginning of negotiations that the council not prejudge the outcome of a democratic transition in Syria by demanding that Assad cede power, and insisted that violence be condemned on all sides.
A top Russian defense official said Thursday that Moscow would not halt its arms exports to Damascus despite the violence, because there are no U.N. sanctions restricting such deliveries. There is, however, an EU arms embargo.
"As of today there are no restrictions on the delivery of weapons and we must fulfill our obligations" said Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, quoted by Russian news agencies. "And this what we are doing."
03 February 2012, 19:58
00
The idiots do not know better, and so they will continue predicting while the rest of us will continue counting and be entertained.
03 February 2012, 20:25
20
Russia just made a huge mistake. This opens the window for UN Resolution 377 and will override their veto. The will lose their port in Tartus, once Bashar and his men are buried. Huge mistake, and good for the US and the Western countries....
03 February 2012, 21:43
00
russia:
1) arm sales contracts.
2) tartous naval base,last foothold in the mediterrenean.
03 February 2012, 21:58
02
So lebaneserevenge@yahoo.com is the expert on the US and its resolution, and perhaps one of the main drafters of these. Russia lacks such geniuses, and most of them are Lebanese, of course, and because of this, the Russians will lose their port in Tartus, BUT ONLY when Bashar and his men are BURIED! And mind you, this is not a prediction. It is pure analytical analysis. HUGE MISTAKE and GOOD for the US and Western countries, and forget about whether it is good for the Syrian people. OMG!!! Only in Lebanon are such geniuses born.
04 February 2012, 00:13
01
Guys, who cares what russia says or does, i actually think that this is better for the syrian people: they would take things into their own hands and they will ultimately prevail even if it takes another year, the fall of the regime is a mathematical certainty. Was russia able to save najib alla of afghanistan?? bashar is far weaker. The economy will crumble, and the regime will transform into a militia of loyalists and will relocate to the coast of banias. The regime will lose damascus come this summer.
04 February 2012, 02:00
00
Russia will veto all drafts until all of its arm sales have been concluded... After the sales are done, it is probable that russia will change its stance and condemn russia or it might stick with the current regime until it collapses. Whatever happens the collapse is inevitable at this point. The longer the conflict drags the more probable it is that a civil war will ignite. It might be what the syrian regime is hoping for; they could be trying to incite sectarian hate between the sunnis and alawites which would allow them to appear as the defenders of that sect.
What we can be sure of is that the conflict will not end anytime soon.
04 February 2012, 06:01
00
Jimbel, does the arms sale contract that you probably read about it s details somewhere mention the date of fulfillment of this sale? What I don't understand is this: do you think russia will wait until after its arm sales are concluded before it decides whether to stick with the regime or change its stance? But then what happens to russia when the regime collapses? Will russia also collapse and the forces of good who are the allies of the West win over the evil that is ruling russia like the blosheviks? Can you be a bit more specific as far as time frames are concerned? I would very much like to be around when all of this happens.
04 February 2012, 11:16
10
the filthy zionist information war department hallucinate is still obsessed with syrian situation, predicting fall of regime "any day now", and it goes on for a year.
