Russia circulated a revised UN Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria on Monday, but Western diplomats said it fell short of their demand for strong condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on civilians.
The Security Council has been unable to agree on a resolution since the violence began in March last year because of deep divisions between its veto-wielding permanent members.
In October, Russia and China vetoed a west European draft resolution backed by the US that condemned al-Assad’s attacks and threatened sanctions.
Moscow and Beijing oppose any mention of sanctions and say al-Assad’s militant opponents must also be condemned, but Western nations say there can be no equivalence between the violence caused by the Syrian regime and the attacks by militant opponents of al-Assad.
Russia took the council by surprise in the middle of last month, introducing a draft resolution that called on all parties to stop the violence.
It cited the “disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities” and urged the Syrian government “to put an end to suppression of those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,” but contained no threat of sanctions.
Although the Russian draft did not meet Western demands, the US and its European allies saw it as a potentially positive sign and submitted a series of amendments. The West has complained publicly and privately at Russia’s slow response in coming up with a revised text — a charge Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin rejected last month.
Diplomats said the draft resolution sent to the 15 council nations on Monday does not appear to be a compromise.
Rather than producing new language, diplomats said the Russians included their original text alongside most amendments proposed by other council members — but Moscow did not make clear whether it has accepted any changes or not.
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday denied an allegation by France that it was sending weapons to Syria in violation of a UN embargo.
“The declarations from French officials are incorrect,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters at a regular briefing.
“Unfortunately we often see political positions by officials from some European countries, this time by France, that are baseless and not backed by proof,” he said.
The French foreign ministry said on Monday that Tehran had repeatedly violated a UN arms embargo by exporting weapons to Syria.
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