Russia urges U.N. to endorse Syria cease-fire agreement

UNITED NATIONS — Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to quickly adopt a draft resolution endorsing the cease-fire agreement in Syria and reiterating support for a path to peace that starts with a transitional government.

The draft also calls for “rapid, safe and unhindered” access to deliver humanitarian aid throughout the country. And it looks forward to a meeting in late January between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, “as an important part of the Syrian-led political process facilitated by the United Nations.”

Russia and Turkey, which brokered the cease-fire agreement, circulated the text to Security Council members Thursday night.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, formally presented the draft at a closed council meeting Friday morning. In response to comments from council members, Russia circulated a revised text late Friday, and Churkin said he hopes for a vote this morning.

The cease-fire agreement, if it holds, would mark a potential breakthrough in a conf lict that began in 2011 with an uprising against decades of rule by President Bashar Assad’s family and has left over 250,000 dead and more than 13.5 million people in need of urgent assistance, and triggered a refugee crisis across Europe.

The draft resolution reiterates “that the only sustainable solution to the current crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic is through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process based on the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012,” which was endorsed by the Security Council.

The communique, adopted by key nations, calls for the formation of a transitional government and steps leading to elections.