Russian Draft UNSC Resolution Doesn’t Mention President Al-Assad: Gatilov

MOSCOW-The Russian draft UN Security Council resolution on counterterrorism does not say a word about the future of President Bashar al-Assad and Russia did not set itself such a goal when it worked on the document, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov has underscored.

Gatilov told the Russian Interfax news agency that there were no passages about President Bashar al-Assad anywhere in the draft resolution. “It’s not in our draft because our draft addresses a broader range of issues faced by the international community in the fight against terrorism. It’s not the purpose of our draft,” Gatilov said.

 “Our draft deals with the adoption by the international community of broad measures to fight terrorism in Syria,” he added.

In the meantime, Mathew Rycroft, Permanent Representative of the UK to the UN, who chairs the Security Council in November, said that differences on the role of President Bashar al-Assad need to be resolved to continue with the Russian draft of the resolution.

The UN Security Council adopted the French draft resolution condemning the recent terrorist attacks on Nov. 20.

“Russia will decide whether it will go back to this resolution. If yes, they will need to make changes to the draft document to resolve the differences that remain in the Security Council regarding the role that al-Assad now plays in Syria,” Gatilov said.

H.M