Russia on Wednesday vetoed a draft UN resolution that would have recognized the Srebrenica massacre as genocide, triggering warnings the bitter diplomatic wrangling could spark renewed violence.
Britain had put forward the text to mark the 20th anniversary of the massacre of 8,000 Muslim boys and men by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.
Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela abstained from the vote at the 15-member UN Security Council, while 10 countries voted in favor of the text, which also condemned genocide denial.
The Russian veto was welcomed by Serbia’s president, who said it was “a great day for Serbia,” but the head of the Mothers of Srebrenica group accused Moscow of “supporting criminals, those who killed our children.”
Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs had called on Russia to use its veto power to block the resolution, saying that it was “anti-Serb” because it highlighted only killings in the final months of a war that left 100,000 people dead.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said the draft resolution was “not constructive, confrontational and politically motivated,” adding that it unfairly singled out Bosnian Serbs for atrocities committed during the war.
“The draft that we have in front of us will not help peace in the Balkans, but rather doom this region to tension,” Churkin told the council meeting that began with a minute of silence to remember the victims.
British Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson accused Russia of siding “with those who are unwilling to accept the facts today.”
“Genocide occurred at Srebrenica. This is a legal fact, not a political judgement. On this there is no compromise,” he said.
Britain, Russia and the US had been locked in intense negotiations over the past 24 hours to try to avoid a veto and agree on a text, but Moscow refused to drop its insistence that references to the Srebrenica killings as an act of genocide be scrapped, diplomats said.
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said “this is a great day for Serbia” after the Russian veto, which he said prevented the “stigmatization of the entire Serbian people.”
In Sarajevo, Munira Subasic, the head of the Mothers of Srebrenica, said that Russia’s veto “has left the door open for a new war.”
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