Russia shows no interest in new draft of Security Council resolution on Syria

UNITED NATIONS — Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday branded a new draft Security Council resolution on Syria, which was circulated by France, Britain and the United States, as “untimely and unnecessary”.

The draft was circulated among the 15 members of the Security Council on Saturday and negotiations began on Monday.

But Nebenzia showed no interest at all. “At first glance, (the draft is) untimely and unnecessary,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“On Friday they waged an aggression against Syria, on Saturday they came with a political solution, don’t you think it’s funny,” he said, in reference to the missile strikes carried out by the three countries on Syria.

French Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre said on Monday that the new draft resolution would be a comprehensive one, covering political and humanitarian issues and the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

“The goal of the resolution is clear: It is for the Security Council to restart collective action to deal with the chemical weapons dossier, to protect civilians and to work toward a political settlement of the Syrian crisis,” Delattre said.

Nebenzia argued on Tuesday that there have already been Security Council resolutions covering political and humanitarian issues concerning Syria. As to chemical weapons use in Syria, Nebenzia said an investigative mechanism is no longer necessary.

“They (the three countries) attributed the guilt and they already punished the culprits, why do they need any investigative mechanism any more,” he said, again in reference to the missile strikes over reports of chemical weapons use in the country.

Security Council members have been trying to set up a new inquiry mechanism for chemical attacks in Syria since such a mechanism was disbanded in November after Russia vetoed the extension of its mandate.

Russia last week again vetoed a US-drafted resolution for the purpose of establishing an investigative mechanism for chemical weapons use in Syria. A Russian-drafted resolution for the same purpose failed to pass the threshold of nine votes in favor of adoption.

Besides the French-drafted resolution, Security Council members also have in their hands a Swedish-drafted text, which includes a request to the UN secretary-general to immediately dispatch a highlevel disarmament mission to Syria to address all outstanding issues about the use of chemical weapons in the country once and for all. However, council members have not engaged seriously on the draft.