Russia, China veto U.N. sanctions on chemical weapons

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration accused Russia and China of “outrageous and indefensible” action Tuesday after they vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have imposed new sanctions on Syria for using chemical weapons against its own citizens.

In a sharply worded speech after the vote, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the message the council was sending to the world was that “if you are allies with Russia and China, they will cover the backs of their friends who use chemical weapons to kill their own people.”

Her comments marked a rare administration criticism of Russia, which President Trump has said could be a partner in counterterrorism operations that could help end Syria’s five-year civil war.

Russian envoy Vladimir Safronkov called Haley’s statement “outrageous” and said that “God shall judge” attempts by the West to discredit the legitimate Syrian government.

The U.S. sponsored the resolution, along with Britain and France. It followed the October conclusion of a joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that the Syrian government had dropped munitions containing chlorine on at least three occasions in 2014 and 2015.

Safronkov suggested that evidence was uncorroborated and came from “suspicious eyewitness accounts . . . armed opponents, sympathetic (nongovernmental organizations), media and also the so-called Friends of Syria.”