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Western countries in UN SC ignore Russia’s proposals for response to situation in Homs - mission

Before the war the two cities had a population of about 40,000
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

UNITED NATIONS, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - Russia believes that the western countries-backed draft statement by the UN Security Council regarding the situation in Homs is unbalanced and regrets that its proposals for amending it have been utterly ignored, Russia’s mission at the UN told Itar-Tass on Friday.

Australia and Luxembourg this week suggested the Security Council should issue a special statement for the press to voice concern over the situation in Homs, where many civilians are trapped in the fighting between government forces and rebels. Russia said the statement should be rephrased to include a mention of the situations in Noble and Al Zahra, where local residents have had to live in the conditions of a blockade by the group Jabhat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda-related factions for eight months.

Before the war the two cities had a population of about 40,000. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pointed to the grave situation there. Also, it was mentioned in the latest report of the commission for investigating human rights abuse in Syria.

“We regret that our specific proposals regarding the draft statement for the press proposed by Australia and Luxembourg were utterly ignored. Moreover, the text circulated yesterday is even more imbalanced. It is based on double standards and has nothing to do with humanitarian issues,” the Russian mission at the UN said.

A number of Western mass media, including the French news agency France Presse, tried to present Russia’s efforts for making the wording of the statement more balanced as an attempt to hamper the Security Council’s response to the situation in Homs. The French news agency claimed that Russia had blocked the UN Security Council’s demand addressed to Syria for immediate access to civilians in Homs.

France Presse also recalled that Russia in June blocked Britain’s draft statement by the Security Council expressing concern over the army’s operation to free Al Qusayr. Moscow explained its stance pretty clearly - the UN Security Council kept quiet when the rebels took over that city.