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Russia Slams Draft of UN Resolution on Syria

A session of the UN Security Council
A session of the UN Security Council

The UN Security Council’s draft resolution envisaging Syria-related sanctions that France and Britain have co-authored is categorically unacceptable, because its ultimate aim is to put political pressures on Damascus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"We are aware of the work that has been conducted; first, behind the scenes and then openly by France and Britain in the UN Security Council over the alleged use in Syria of toxic chemicals as weapons and warfare agents," he said.

"We’ve stated more than once and we reiterate again that reports by the joint mechanism of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established for the investigation of such affairs, are not a reason enough for making conclusions that may go so far as the French and British counterparts have proposed."

He added, "Their draft resolution implies sanctions and this is categorically unacceptable to us."

Ryabkov warned the European partners against more attempts at fanning political tensions in the UN Security Council.

"Nothing will come of this," he declared.

"Just recently there was adopted a resolution that not just prolonged the mandate of the mentioned mechanism of joint investigations, but also laid the basis for that mechanism to address the issue of chemical weapons being used by terrorists more actively."

Ryabkov noted that this evidence is to be studied by experts, including specialists in The Hague, adding that efforts should be continued in a calm fashion to uproot this threat.

"In the outgoing year, Russia came out with a proposal for drafting a special convention on the struggle against acts of chemical and biological terrorism," he said.

Ryabkov added, "This is the way to proceed along, and not use the situation the way British and French counterparts have been doing for putting political pressures on Damascus. We see no other aims behind this idea."

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