UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION, September 30 (Itar-Tass) —— The U.N. Security Council has failed so far to draft a compromise version of the resolution, which would reflect its attitude to the developments in Syria. The unwillingness of the Western countries to fully take into consideration the aspects of the resolution, which evoke Moscow’s concern, continues to be a stumbling block, Vitaly Curkin, Russia’s permanent representative at the U.N., told journalists on Thursday. According to Churkin, another, revised draft resolution on Syria, submitted by the Western countries, does not suit Russia, because it contains a threat to impose sanctions on Damascus, if Syria does not meet all the demands of the U.N. Security Council within 30 days.
At the same time, Russia does not object to including in the resolution of the appeal to stop violence immediately and to immediately release political prisoners. At the same time, the authors of the Western version of the resolution – France, Germany, Britain, Portugal and the United States – tried to take into account Moscow’s criticism and included a paragraph in the draft document, which makes it clear that the Syrian opposition is also to blame for the violence, which has been going on in the country for some six months.
Judging by statements of representatives of the Western countries, they are not ready so far to make concessions to Moscow and its BRICS partners on the problem of sanctions, which they believe to be of principled importance for them. German ambassador Peter Wittig told journalists that the essence of the resolution consists in the fact that Damascus should realise that if repressions and violence are not stopped, further measures will be taken.
According to diplomats, the Western delegations at the U.N. Security Council continue to work on their draft resolution and are going to submit its another revised version to the U.N. Security Council on Friday. They do not believe, however, that the document will be put to vote on the same day.