Russia will not back UN resolution on Syria

World

Russia will not back UN resolution on Syria

Close

Russian foreign minister said his country will not back new UN resolution on Syria.

31 January,2012 04:53 am

Russia will not back a new draft resolution on Syria, its deputy foreign minister said Monday ahead of the UN Security Councils debate over the latest Western-backed proposal.The current Western draft has not gone too far from the October version, and, certainly, cannot be supported by us, Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency in an interview.The draft has statements in it calling on the member states to stop arms deliveries to Syria, he said.But there is no clear line between arms contraband that some countries engage in to support extremist forces in Syria, and the legal military-technical ties with this country, he said.Russia, which has resisted Western calls to back UN sanctions against Damascus, had suggested to both President Bashar al-Assads regime and the opposition that they should meet in Moscow for informal contacts without any preconditions.