Russia
decries U.N. draft on Syria aid, urges resolution on 'terrorism'
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[February 11, 2014]
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday a draft U.N. resolution on aid
access in Syria was "detached from reality" and urged the West to
refrain from what it called one-sided accusations against Damascus.
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Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan last week presented their draft
resolution meant to increase aid to Syria to the five Security
Council permanent members, including Russia. Moscow swiftly rebuked
the proposal as a non-starter.
"Our Western partners in the Security Council ... proposed that we
cooperate in working out a resolution. The ideas they shared with us
were absolutely one-sided and detached from reality," the Interfax
news agency quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with Algerian
Foreign Minister Ramtame Lamamra.
Lavrov said Russia, which has used its veto power in the Security
Council to block three Western-backed resolutions aimed to increase
pressure on Syria's government during the three-year-old conflict,
would be ready to consider a draft only if it was "not about
one-sided accusations aimed at the regime".
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He also called upon the Security Council to agree a resolution
condemning "terrorist activity" in Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad's government describes all of those
fighting to oust him as terrorists and has pushed for efforts to
combat "terrorism" to be the main focus of peace talks in Geneva.
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Russia, a long-standing arms supplier to Damascus, has been Assad's
main international protector throughout the civil war, Moscow
rejects Western accusations that it is shielding the Syrian
president and says the Syrian people, not foreign powers, should
decide the future of Assad.
(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by Steve Gutterman and Ralph
Boulton)
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