Russia, China Veto Draft UNSC Resolution on Sanctions against Syria

UNITED NATIONS- Russia and China have vetoed a United Nations Security Council draft resolution imposing sanctions on Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons..

The draft initiated by  the UK, France and the United States got the support of nine countries.

 Along with Russia and China, Bolivia voted against the draft resolution while Egypt, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia abstained.

 Munzir: Syria Doesn’t Use Chemical Weapons

Meanwhile, the acting Charge de’ Affairs of Syria’s permanent delegation to UN, Munzir Munzir said that Syria doesn’t use chemical weapons and it doesn’t believe in using them, from a moral point of view, adding that the Syrian government has cooperated with the inquiry committees and proved to them, through evidence, that the terrorist organizations fabricated those allegations, according to SANA.

Munzir, in a speech at the UNSC session, said that the mechanism of joint investigation has frankly admitted that armed terrorist groups have moved and transformed the material evidences from a place into another and photographed events after many days of their happening without an attempt by the mechanism to analyze the motive behind these practices which clearly aim at falsifying the facts and fabricating accusations against the Syrian governments.

Russia: Experts’ information about chemical weapons are suspicious

In a relevant context, Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov said in a speech following the voting session that the conclusions of experts about allegations of using chemical weapons by the Syrian government against civilians in 2014 and 2015 “are based on suspicious data.”

 “The problem lies in the fact that the work of experts was based on suspicious data presented by armed groups and non-governmental international organizations in addition to media and so-called friends of Syria,” Safronkov said, adding that Damascus demands about conducting objective investigation were neglected.

He considered that the available information at the sides which proposed the draft resolution don’t include “irrefutable facts” that could be a basis for any accusations.

 Moscow Won’t Support Sanctions against Syria: Putin

Earlier in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia won’t support a draft resolution submitted by some western countries to the UN Security Council on imposing sanctions on Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons, describing the whole idea as inappropriate   

Putin was speaking following talks on Tuesday with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Almazbek Atambayev.

“As for sanctions against the Syrian leadership, I believe that is totally inappropriate. This does not help and would not help the negotiation process. Instead, that would hinder it or undermine trust in the course of this process,” the Russian President said, according to Itar Tass.

“Russia will not support any new sanctions against Syria,” he affirmed.

On Monday, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Sputnik that the Western version of a UN Security Council resolution on chemical weapons, envisaging sanctions against Syria, was unacceptable for Russia. Also Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Vladimir Safronkov, told reporters on Friday that Russia will veto the UN Security Council’s draft resolution imposing sanctions on Syria over alleged use of chemical weapon.  He added the draft contradicted the principle of presumption of innocence and prejudged investigation results.

On Astana talks, Putin said that they ended on a positive note. Their undisputed result was the consolidation of the ceasefire and the setting up of a mechanism to monitor it. Without that it would be impossible to continue the talks in Geneva, he added.

Hamda Mustafa