Russia vetoes UN resolution to stop bombing in Aleppo, calls it “wasted effort”
The Security Council failed to move forward with a resolution to stop military flights over the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo after the Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin raised his hand to invoke his country’s veto power.
It’s another sign of the tense relationship between Russia and the United States, in particular, but also the other Western European countries on the council. On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry called for Russia to be investigated for war crimes.
11 countries voted for the measure, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom. China, which is the last veto power, abstained along with Angola. Venezuela was the other country to vote “no.”
As he left the room, Churkin answered a few questions from reporters. He called the meeting a “wasted effort” and complained about the resolution not following the proposal outlined by UN’s Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura.
“If we had taken some additional time to consult, I’m sure we could have produced better results,” he said.
The resolution was drafted by France, along with Spain, and the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault addressed the Council before the vote. The resolution would have sought to stop Syrian and Russian jets from flying over Eastern Aleppo, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped without access to humanitarian aid.
As soon as the vote came to a close, foreign minister Ayrault bolted for the exit.
“We must not close our eyes. We must not be indifferent, and continue to do everything he can,” he told reporters.
Ayrault also expressed outrage at Churkin’s insinuations that countries like France, in their opposition to the Assad government, aren’t committed to fighting terrorism in Syria.
“I was shocked by that,” he said. “I say that in the name of France, deeply shocked. We’re a country that has suffered from terrorism, but fights it without ambiguity.”
Russia also proposed its own resolution, which didn’t call for an end to military flights. The dual proposals, neither with much chance of withstanding a vote, led Churkin to call the meeting a “strange spectacle” in his opening remarks as this month’s president of the Council. Only four countries voted in favor, China, Russia, Egypt and Venezuela.
The US deputy ambassador to the UN David Pressman blasted Russia’s proposal as “deceptive.”
“What Russia wants is for there to be more talk, while they seek to take the city by brutal force,” he said.” What we want is less talk and more action, for them to stop the slaughter.”
