MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) - A resolution on Chapter VII of the UN Charter would be at variance with Russian-American agreements on chemical weapons in Syria reached in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“Indeed, our Western partners have prepared in the UN Security Council a draft resolution on chemical weapons in Syria,” he said. “We have familiarized ourselves with it and we can say that this document raises serious questions,” the senior diplomat noted.
“Without going into detail, we must note that it is not balanced and has sharply anti-Syrian modality,” he added. “For example, it says nothing about the fact that the Syrian government has voluntarily joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and is ready to begin immediately implementing it in cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,” Gatilov said. "This means chemical arsenals will be placed under international control then to be destroyed, he added, noting that this was confirmed during talks between Russian representatives and Syria's leadership in Damascus.
“As if ignoring all that, Western partners seek the approval of a resolution” on Chapter VII, he said, referring to a clause which allows the UN Security Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and non-military action to restore international peace and security.
“The very modality of their draft resolution is at variance with agreements reached in Geneva by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry,” Gatilov added.