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Middle East conflict

Lavrov calls on UN not to ignore Gaza problem

The top Russian diplomat condemned the United States’ non-constructive approach to this matter and stressed that "this topic should be the focus of the Security Council"

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. The continuing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip is the biggest international problem, which must be in the focus of attention of the UN Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his visiting Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.

"We welcome any steps geared toward the soonest end to the bloodshed and a lasting ceasefire. And we are taking efforts toward this within the UN Security Council, acting along with our Egyptian friends. The problem is that the United States is reluctant to pass any resolutions really providing for what everybody wants - putting an end to the bloodshed," he said.

The top Russian diplomat condemned the United States’ non-constructive approach to this matter and stressed that "this topic should be the focus of the Security Council because this is the main international problem of today, no matter how this situation can be pictured by anyone."

The Russian foreign minister recalled that several month ago, the United States initiated its draft UN Security Council resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which was "very murky and non-concrete." "But they said that this was enough and Israel shared such an approach and everything would be all right. We asked to substantiate, we asked our Israeli colleagues to confirm that they agree with what was written in the American document. They refused to do that, so, we had to abstain on that resolution," Lavrov explained.

The Russian side, in his words, abstained but not vetoed the resolution as it had been asked by the Arab, including Palestinian colleagues who "wanted to give a chance to the document so widely advertised by the Americans." "The resolution was passed and as it was passed on paper it has been a mere paper ever since," he went on to say. "Not a single United States’ promise has been implemented but this doesn’t mean that we should drop our efforts."

According to Lavrov, the conflict is running a risk of being frozen, if all of its parties do not implement the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on the establishment of the Palestinian state.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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