Churkin: It is not UNSC business to go into ‘power change’ in Syria
The UN representative for Russia Vitaly Churkin told the Guardian “Some countries were trying to involve the Security Council in regime change operations in Syria and we were telling them that it’s not the business of the Security Council to go into regime change mode”.
His remark was made last Wednesday.
The official news agency (SANA) quoted Churkin as saying: “The UN Security Council should not deal with power changes. Especially since the history of the Middle East, particularly in the last decade, demonstrates that forcing scenarios from outside brings chaos to countries and does not solve but aggravate [their] problem.”
He indicated that the UNSC expressed last week its support to the project of forming Syrian-Syrian working groups that work on the basis of Geneva agreements so that the Syrians come to agree, backed by the UN, on security, political and legal and counter-terrorism issues.
Churkin added, “will keep the situation under close control, but the decision has to be made by Syrians,” stressing that Russia considers agreement among the Syrians a principal matter.
Basma Qaddour