Russia blocks U.N. Security Council
condemnation of Syria attack
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[April 13, 2017]
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia blocked a
Western-led effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn
last week's deadly gas attack in Syria and push Moscow's ally President
Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with international inquiries into the
incident.
It was the eighth time during Syria's six-year-old civil war that Moscow
has used its veto power on the Security Council to shield Assad's
government.
In the latest veto, Russia blocked a draft resolution backed by the
United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack in the town of
Khan Sheikhoun and tell Assad's government to provide access for
investigators and information such as flight plans.
The toxic gas attack on April 4 prompted the United States to launch
missile strikes on a Syrian air base and widened a rift between the
United States and Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that trust had eroded
between the two countries under U.S. President Donald Trump.
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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson echoed that comment after meetings
with Russian leaders in Moscow, saying that relations are at a low point
with a low level of trust. Tillerson called for Assad to eventually
relinquish power.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called on Moscow to
stop protecting Assad and said the United States wants to work with
Russia toward a political solution for Syria.
"Russia once again has chosen to side with Assad, even as the rest of
the world, including the Arab world, overwhelmingly comes together to
condemn this murderous regime," Haley told the 15-member Security
Council.
"If the regime is innocent, as Russia claims, the information requested
in this resolution would have vindicated them."
Russia's deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, said the draft
resolution laid blame prior to an independent investigation.
"I'm amazed that this was the conclusion. No one has yet visited the
site of the crime. How do you know that?" he said.
He said the U.S. attack on the Syrian air base "was carried out in
violation of international norms."
ATTACK INVESTIGATION
Syria's government has denied responsibility for the gas attack in a
rebel-held area of northern Syria that killed at least 87 people, many
of them children.
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![](../images/041317PICS/news_v37.jpg)
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley speaks with an aid before a
Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York, U.S., April 12, 2017.
REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
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A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is investigating the attack.
If it determines that chemical weapons were used, then a joint
U.N./OPCW investigation will look at the incident to determine who
is to blame. This team has already found Syrian government forces
were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and
that Islamic State militants used mustard gas.
China, which has vetoed six resolutions on Syria since the civil war
began, abstained from Wednesday's U.N. vote, along with Ethiopia and
Kazakhstan. Ten countries voted in favor of the text, while Bolivia
joined Russia in voting no.
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at an event in the White
House, said he was not surprised by China's abstention.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council
that samples taken from the site of the April 4 attack had been
analyzed by British scientists and tested positive for the nerve gas
sarin. He said Assad's government was responsible.
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Diplomats said that Russia has put forward a rival draft resolution
that expresses concern at last week's gas attack and condemns the
U.S. strike on Syria. It was unclear if Moscow planned to put the
text to a vote.
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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