UNITED NATIONS, October 5 (Itar-Tass) — Russia has voted against the Western draft resolution of the UN Security Council on Syria, because it “was built on the confrontation philosophy,” Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said at the UN Security Council on Tuesday commenting on the voting results.
The resolution was not adopted, as two permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia and China - took advantage of their veto right.
The Russian ambassador stressed that Moscow cannot “agree with the unilateral accusatory bias against Damascus.” “We consider unacceptable the ultimatum threat of the use of sanctions against the Syrian authorities,” he said. “Such an approach runs counter to the peaceful crisis settlement principle that is based on the common Syrian national dialogue.”
According to the UN, China and Russia on Tuesday vetoed a draft resolution in the Security Council that had strongly condemned Syrian authorities for their violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters this year and called for an immediate end to human rights abuses. Nine of the Council’s 15 members voted in favour of the draft text, there were two vetoes, and four countries abstained. A veto by any one of the Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – means a resolution cannot be adopted.
The draft resolution had voiced deep concern over the recent violence in Syria and strongly condemned “the continued grave and systematic human rights violations and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”