Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Monday that called for a seven-day ceasefire in Syria’s Aleppo.
Russia argued that a truce would only permit the militants to regroup and that the subject required further talks between Moscow and Washington. Russian officials have long insisted that militants fighting against the Syrian government forces and its allies have used previous humanitarian pauses to regroup and rearm.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the draft resolution as “counterproductive”
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In a speech delivered during a session of the Security Council, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari indicated that the countries which support terrorism are dreaming of undermining Syria as they had earlier dreamt of undermining Iraq, Libya and Yemen, He affirmed that all their dreams would go unheeded.
British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said: “Russia and China have chosen to veto not because of a lack of consultation, but because of their long-standing, misplaced faith in a despot who has killed nearly half a million of his own people”
Chinese U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the vote on the draft text should have been delayed to allow for more negotiations to reach council consensus and accused Rycroft of “poisoning” the atmosphere and “abusing” the forum with his remarks.
The resolution, which was submitted by New Zealand, Egypt and Spain, was also blocked by Venezuela, while Angola abstained from voting with the reaming 11 members voting in its favor.
Because Russia and China as permanent members of the 15-seat council have veto power, the resolution did not pass.
