Russia dooms Western hopes for tough UN action against Syria
The United Nations said Monday that more than 2,600 Syrians have died in the Assad regime’s repression of pro-democracy protests, but the grim report seemed unlikely to boost prospects for international sanctions against the Syrian government.
The reason? Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday expressed publicly his opposition to any UN Security Council resolution on Syria that includes sanctions.
That leaves Russia and Western powers including the United States poles apart on Syria – and suspicious of the other side’s motivations.
Russia sees the West’s hardening stance towards the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and worries that tough Security Council action could open the door to the kind of armed intervention that NATO has undertaken in Libya. Western countries consider Russia’s historic ties to Syria and wonder if it isn’t trying to preserve a foothold in the Middle East – a suspicion bolstered by recent reports of a percolating Russia-Syria arms deal.
Mr. Medvedev said that any new resolution “mustn’t automatically involve sanctions,” adding that, “There is absolutely no need now for any additional pressure.” Later, in a meeting with British Prime Minster David Cameron, Medvedev said a resolution was possible but would have to be “balanced.”
With Russia one of five permanent Security Council members who wield a veto over council action, Medvedev’s statements appeared to doom a resolution the US and European powers proposed last month. The resolution calls for an arms embargo and other sanctions aimed at stopping what the State Department has called Assad’s “despicable violence” against his own people.