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News > World

UN Security Council Rejects Russian Proposal for Peace in Syria

  • Eight countries voted against the Russian-drafted text on Saturday, while four others abstained.

    Eight countries voted against the Russian-drafted text on Saturday, while four others abstained. | Photo: Reuters

Published 14 April 2018
Opinion

Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia asked the United States: "Why didn't you wait for the outcome of the investigation you called for?"

Russia's proposal to resolve Friday's military strikes orchestrated by the United States, Britain and France against Syria has been rejected by the U.N. Security Council.

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Putin: US-led Attack on Syria Violation of International Law

The northern power had drafted a resolution condemning the "aggression" and calling for restrictions which would prevent the tri-national force from further missile attacks. However, out of the nine votes needed to pass, Russia only received three votes, leaving Syria at the mercy of the tri-powers.

The 15-member council met on Saturday at Russia's request: the fifth time it has met regarding Syria since a suspected deadly poison gas attack in the Syrian town of Douma a week ago. The United States, France and Britain fired 105 missiles overnight in retaliation, targeting Syria's chemical weapons program.

"I spoke to the president this morning and he said: 'If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,'" U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said, adding that when the president "draws a red line," he enforces it.

Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia denounced the West's actions as "hooliganism" and demanded an end to the military attacks and any future aggressions: "You are not only placing yourselves above international law, but you are trying to re-write international law," Nebenzia said.

International investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog arrived in Syria to start their inquiry on Saturday into the suspected toxic gas attack. Russia and Syria have said there was no evidence of a chemical weapons attack, but the United States remains adamant.

Eight countries voted against the Russian-drafted text on Saturday. Chile, Russia and Bolivia voted in favor, while Peru, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor, and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass.
 

From the VIII Summit of the Americas, Bolivia's President Evo Morales called the United States the greatest threat to world peace and global stability, urging the nation radically change its policies toward Latin America.

"The main threat against freedom, against democracy, against Mother Earth and against multilateralism is the USA... I am not afraid to say it openly and openly," Morales said Saturday from Lima, Peru.

France, the United States and Britain planned to put forward a new draft resolution aimed at dismantling Syria's chemical weapons program, wiping out terrorism, demanding a ceasefire across Syria and finding a political solution to the conflict, French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told the council on Saturday.

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