Russia: still 2 major issues with Syria resolution

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned of a "scandal" if a Western-Arab drafted resolution comes to a vote on Saturday in the U.N. Security Council, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.   

The remarks, which Itar-Tass said Lavrov made in an interview to be aired later on state-run Rossiya-1 television, suggest Russia would likely veto the resolution if its latest proposed amendmends were not taken into account.   

"If they want another scandal for themselves in the Security Council, then we probably cannot stop them," Lavrov said, according to Itar-Tass. Rossiya-1 said the interview was recorded early on Saturday.  

Lavrov said he hoped the draft would not come to a vote without changes "because our amendments to this draft are well-known".   

"I sent them to (U.S. Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton yesterday, and to our representative at the United Nations to convey them to our partners," Lavrov was quoted as saying.   

"The reasonableness and objectivity of these amendments should not raise any doubts. I hope that a prejudiced view does not prevail over common sense."

Lavrov added he still sees two major problems with a draft U.N. resolution on the violence in Syria.
 
Sergey Lavrov said at a security conference in Germany on Saturday that the latest version of the resolution resolves "quite a number of things which were important to us." But he added: "It still has basically two things which we would like to modify but they are of crucial importance."
 
Lavrov asserted that the resolution makes too few demands of armed groups opposing President Bashar Assad's regime. He also said Moscow remains concerned about whether it prejudges the outcome of a national dialogue among political forces in Syria.

Lavrov is expected to meet with U.N. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the sidelines of the conference later in the day.
 
        
Reuters/AP