WORLD_ SYRIA_ Russia to block UN deal on Syria

Russia to block UN deal on Syria

AFP
February 07, 2014 12:00AM
THE AUSTRALIAN




Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin and Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja'fari in 2012. Source: AFP


MOSCOW is opposing a UN Security Council resolution demanding greater humanitarian access in Syria to those in urgent need of food and medical supplies.


Since negotiations between Syria and world powers halted last weekend without concrete results, Western nations and some Arab countries backing the Syrian opposition have drafted a text they hope to bring before the council this week, diplomats said.

But Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said: "It is too early. We believe it is not a good time to have any resolution discussed in the Security Council ... My concern is, if there is a resolution, it will be an effort to politicise."

Mr Churkin called for a "pragmatic approach" towards Damascus, Moscow's ally. But he declined to say whether Russia would apply its veto power to a possible humanitarian resolution on Syria, as it has done three times since the conflict broke out in March 2011.

France, Britain, the US and other council members such as Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg have held meetings without Russia to discuss the text, which has yet to be completed.

Three million Syrian civilians have been trapped by the violence tearing through the country, including more than 2500 in the besieged city of Homs alone, according to the UN.

Without minimising the "quite horrific" situation in Homs, Mr Churkin claimed that "it is not a large-scale kind of a siege of the kind we've had in the course of history".

Asked about much-delayed efforts to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, he praised Damascus for its efforts.

"Things are moving along, the joint (UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) operation is functioning well," he said. "We are confident this project is going to be accomplished in a timely manner and these chemicals are going to be destroyed."

The US says only two small shipments of chemicals, worth about 4 per cent of Syria's declared arsenal, have left the port of Latakia so far - far less than the 700 tonnes Syria was supposed to dispose of by the end of last year.

The UN Security Council backed a US-Russian deal last year to destroy Syria's vast chemical arsenal as a way of averting US strikes threatened after chemical attacks near Damascus that Washington had blamed on the regime.

Under the agreement, Syria's entire chemical arsenal is due to be eliminated by June 30.

Western powers accuse President Bashar al-Assad's regime of purposefully delaying the operations, while Syria stresses the challenges it faces in meeting its commitments in a time of war.

Mr Churkin renewed Russia's call for Iran to be involved "constructively" in peace talks between the regime and the opposition, due to resume on Monday.

"It was a mistake not to invite Iran" to the last round, the Russian envoy added.

AFP



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