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UN Security Council rejects Russian draft on Syria chemical probe

The document failed to get the required number of votes

© Kim Haughton/The United Nations via AP

UN, November 17. /TASS/. The UN Security Council on Thursday rejected the Russian draft resolution to extend the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate chemical incidents in Syria.

The document failed to get the required number of votes.

The Russian draft resolution received support from Russai, Bo

Read also

Report on Syria chemical attacks probe ‘deeply disappointing’ — Russian diplomat

livia, Kazakhstan and China. Seven delegations, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France, voted against. Four Security Council members - Egypt, Senegal, Ethiopia and Japan abstained.

Russia’s UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, expressed his regret about the vote and said that the nations that voted against it will bear full responsibility for the termination of the commission’s mandate.

"We are disappointed by the fact that our initiative, intended at extending and improving the work of the Joint Investigative Mechanism of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria has failed to get the required support," he said.

The UN Security Council gathered on Thursday to consider two rival resolutions on extending the JIM mandate, put forward by Moscow and Washington.

Earlier in the day, Russia has vetoed the US-initiated draft resolution. Before the voting, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN said Russia was withdrawing its draft as the Security Council had refused to satisfy Moscow’s request to consider the US draft first.

Shortly after, Bolivia suggested returning to the withdrawn Russian-Chinese resolution. Nebenzya supported the request and returned the Moscow-backed resolution back to the vote.

The commission’s mandate expires on November 17.

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