UNITED NATIONS, September 28 (Itar-Tass) - The just-adopted UN Security Council’s resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons does not allow for the automatic use of measures of coercion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after the 15-member Security Council unanimously voted for the document.
“The resolution does not fall under the operation of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and it does not envisage any automatic mechanism of using measures of coercion. It reiterates the agreement achieved at the Russian-US meeting in Geneva to the effect that any violations of its requirements, just as the use of chemical weapons by whatever party, should become a matter of close consideration by the UN Security Council, which would be prepared to take action under Chapter 7 of the Charter,” Lavrov explained. “All measures by the SC will be proportionate to the gravity of the offenses, which are to be proven with 100-percent certainty.”
Lavrov said the responsibility for complying with the resolution rested not only on the Syrian government.
“Under SC requirements the Syrian Opposition is expected to cooperate with international experts, too,” he said.
Also, Lavrov pointed to the special responsibility placed on the countries that support the rebels.
“They are obliged to rule out the risk extremists may lay hands on chemical weapons,” he said.
When it joined the chemical weapons ban convention in the middle of September, Syria in fact began to act on its commitments by presenting to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons a detailed declaration describing the condition of its chemical arsenal,” Lavrov said. Moscow proceeds from the assumption Damascus will continue to interact with the international inspectors “constructively and diligently.”
As Lavrov said, Russia proceeds from the assumption that the work of UN and OPCW experts in Syria will proceed professionally and impartially and with full respect for that country’s sovereignty. “Russia will be prepared to participate in all components of the forthcoming mission in Syria and will be actively and closely involved in preparations for the Geneva-2 conference.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Geneva-2 was due in the middle of November. The need for convening it at an early date is emphasized in the just-adopted UN SC resolution 2118.
As Lavrov said, “it is fundamentally important the resolution establishes the framework for overcoming the Syrian crisis by political and diplomatic means.”
“It approves without any reservations the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012 as a settlement platform,” Lavrov said.
He voiced the hope that “the ever more fragmented groups of the Syrian Opposition” will follow in the footsteps of the Syrian government to declare their readiness to participate in the international conference without any preconditions.
“We are urging the Opposition’s sponsors to put the necessary pressures on them,” he said.
Lavrov pointed to the benefits which the whole region would derive from the implementation of the plan for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons.
“It will bring closer the solution of the old-time problem of turning the Middle East into a zone free from weapons of mass destruction and the delivery vehicles,” Lavrov said.