REPORT: Russia says draft French UN Syria resolution protected militants

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday a draft French UN Security Council resolution on Syria would have helped Islamist militants in the Aleppo area by protecting them from aerial bombing.

 

In a statement, the ministry also said the French text was politicized and one-sided.

 

Russia on Saturday vetoed the resolution, which demanded an end to air strikes on Aleppo and military over flights.

 

"An explicit attempt was made, by banning flights in the Aleppo area, to provide cover for the terrorists of Jabhat Al-Nusra and associated militants," the ministry said.

Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated in the UN Security Council on Saturday, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and leaving the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.

The votes reflected the deep divisions in the UN's most powerful body which is charged with ensuring international peace and security but has totally failed to take action to end the more than 5-year Syrian conflict which has killed over 300,000 people and displaced millions.

The French-backed resolution received 11 "yes" votes, two "no" votes from Russia and Venezuela, and abstentions from China and Angola. The Russian resolution received four "yes" votes, nine "no" votes, and two abstentions.

It was the fifth veto by Russia of a Western-backed resolution aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.

When Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari started speaking, a number of ambassadors walked out, including the representatives of Britain, France, Ukraine and the United States.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who addressed the session before the vote on the French resolution, warned that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools  "and has nothing to do with combating terrorism," as Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and its close ally Russia contend.

"It is the annihilation of Aleppo," he said, declaring that the continued bombing will leave the city in ruins, a place where citizens will be left to their "executioners."

He compared Aleppo's likely fate to Guernica during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Srebrenica during the Bosnian war and the Chechen capital Grozny which was pummeled by the Russian army in the mid-1990s.

Russia's Churkin said the demand for a bombing halt in Aleppo was "not fleshed out" and would affect the government-controlled western part of the city as well as the rebel-held east.

He said the French resolution's adoption would have been the first where the Security Council decided on a course of action for a permanent council member without prior agreement  meaning that Russia would have been required to stop all flights and bombing of Aleppo.

Churkin noted that activity in Aleppo had gone down on Friday and "we hope this is a trend that will continue."

 

 

 

For more details, watch the full report in the video above